Best and Less Group has sustained positive like-for-like sales, despite losing 9,437 trading days in the first half of FY22, the business has revealed in its results.
The Group's like-for-like sales were up by 1% on H1 FY21, and 12% on H1 FY20.
With stores closed during the period, the business' online sales lifted 24% to $37.9 million in the half – an increase of 118.5% on H1 FY20.
Best and Less Group CEO Rodney Orrock cited the Group's omnichannel structure as a driver of positive digital growth.
"Our omnichannel model continues to provide us with flexibility and ongoing investment in online is paying off, with online sales rising significantly and conversion rates continuing to improve.
"We have managed our supply chain and inventory well and are in a strong position heading into the second half as trading conditions strengthen.
"With our strong balance sheet and cash position we have the firepower to continue to invest for growth," he said.
For the half, the business reported total revenue of $287.5 million, down 13.8% on the prior corresponding period (pcp).
Increased average transaction value (ATV) and average selling price (ASP) helped the business deliver gross profit margin improvement of +210bps on the pcp to 50.8%.
Meanwhile, strong attention and management of cost of doing business resulted in EBITDA margin of 10.6%.
As a result of its strong margin and cost management efforts, the business to achieve its calendar year 21 (CY21) Prospectus forecasts for EBITDA and NPAT.
In CY21, Best and Less Group achieved EBITDA of $63.8 million (forecast: $62.4 million) and NPAT of $41.6 million (forecast: $41.3 million).
Orrock praised the team for being able to achieve this result.
"Despite losing over 21% of our total trading days to government mandated store closures in the first half, our team has done extremely well to manage the things we can control, maintaining strong margins and delivering excellent service to our customers.
"To have achieved our CY21 Prospectus profit forecasts is a great outcome in challenging conditions and is the result of a relentless focus on managing gross margin and costs across the business," he said.
Looking back at the first half results, Best and Less Group reported EBITDA of $30.6 million, 20.3% below H1 FY21, and NPAT of $20 million, 21.3% lower than the first half of FY21.
The retailer closed the period with 245 stores and a net cash position of $31.1 million.