• Global economic uncertainty and challenging retail trading conditions persisted across all markets
• Australia and Canada delivered revenue growth, with improvement in same store sales across all segments in FY25H2
• Significant progress on Michael Hill initiatives including new flagship stores and product launches

Michael Hill International Ltd presented its FY25 annual general meeting, providing an overview of the company's performance and key initiatives. The presentation highlighted that global economic uncertainty and challenging retail trading conditions persisted across all markets, particularly in New Zealand. However, the company's two largest segments, Australia and Canada, delivered revenue growth. The second half of FY25 saw an improvement in same store sales across all segments, and the company made significant progress on its Michael Hill initiatives, including opening a second global flagship store in Melbourne, refurbishing the Queenstown, NZ store with a new brand identity, successfully launching the Pendant Bar concept, elevating the quality of its sustainable 'LAB.' diamond offering, and establishing a new distribution centre in New Zealand. The company's FY25 financial results were broadly flat compared to the prior year, with revenue of $644 million, gross profit of $389 million, and comparable EBIT of $15.3 million. Looking ahead, the company is focused on embedding the repositioning of the Michael Hill brand, conducting an internal strategic review of New Zealand, and reinforcing the retail fundamentals, brand identity, and awareness of the Bevilles brand. The presentation also provided a trading update for the first 16 weeks of FY26, highlighting a recovery in gross margin, continued strong performance in Canada, and new product initiatives in preparation for the important Christmas trading period.

For the first 16 weeks of FY26, the Group's same store sales were flat on prior year, with the Australian segment up 0.7%, the Canadian segment up 4.1%, and the New Zealand segment down 6.2%. Total Group sales were down 1.3% in the first 16 weeks of FY26, despite a 4.4% reduction in store numbers.

The company is focused on embedding the repositioning of the Michael Hill brand, conducting an internal strategic review of New Zealand, and reinforcing the retail fundamentals, brand identity, and awareness of the Bevilles brand. The company is also preparing for the important Christmas trading period, with new product initiatives and the opening of new flagship stores in Australia and Canada.