Today, Reece Group announced strong half year results, despite the unprecedented environment. We continue to successfully navigate the competing pressures of changing COVID-19 restrictions, global supply chain disruption and capacity constraints as we experience strong demand that is keeping the network and our pros busier than ever. 

This environment translated into positive half year results for the Reece Group with sales up 17% on the prior year to $3.6 billion and Net Profit after Tax up 28% to $157 million.

Peter Wilson, Group CEO of the Reece Group said: “Despite the ongoing challenges of COVID-19 and continuing supply chain disruption, our team and our business model have remained resilient in the first half of FY22. As a team, we’ve delivered another strong result, driven by positive customer demand. Strong execution from the team across the Group demonstrated what we were able to achieve together for our customers and our business.”

In Australia and New Zealand, sales revenue was up 11%. In the US, sales revenue was up a record 24%.  

Across ANZ, our service model coupled with the geographic concentration of our network continues to drive our competitive advantage, delivering convenience for our customers and enabling us to be flexible in the face of COVID and supply chain issues. 

We have remained focussed on the long-term, ensuring we have the right leadership to help us achieve our 2030 ambition. In December, after an extensive process that included a global search, we appointed Marius Vermeulen as the new CEO of the ANZ business.  

With more customers turning to technology to get time back, we’ve progressed a number of digital upgrades during the half, making enhancements to the maX platform and rolling out a mobile point of sale system in store to deliver quicker service. We also expanded the capability of Reece Connect, our automated approach to integrate job management and accounting software, making it easier for customers to connect with Reece and issue electronic invoices directly to the customers’ chosen accounting software.  

Our strategic rationale of entering the US market continues to ring true for us. We still see great runway for Reece in the Sun Belt and have rolled out five new stores and completed five additional refurbishments in the first half.  We expect this momentum to continue into the second half and we continue to see positive customer response to our tailored business model, high quality customer service, as well as product expertise and availability.  We’ve also made our first step in introducing the Reece corporate brand in the US, with the launch of the US corporate and careers websites. 

Peter added, “As we look ahead to the second half we are optimistic about the near term demand drivers despite a number of factors which will need to be carefully managed. While a range of factors could impact the environment over the longer term, we believe we are well placed to continue delivering on our three-pillar strategy of being brilliant at the fundamentals of our business, investing for growth and delivering innovation.”  

For more details on results, check out our investor centre .