Harvey Norman suffers €11m loss in six months despite sales hike

AUSTRALIAN electrical and furniture retailer Harvey Norman made a loss of A$17m (€11.1m) in Ireland in the six months to December 2009, despite an increase in sales in its stores in the Republic.

The chain’s southern stores had a 2% jump in sales, or a total of €75.3m. However, the weakness of the euro meant the value of the sales at the Irish operation were effectively down 6% when converted into Australian dollars.

As Harvey Norman, aged 70, explained: “It’s terrible, we’ve got a situation where we are losing a lot of money in Ireland and it’s not improving. I’m not counting on it improving, I’m counting on it staying as bad as it is and hoping and praying it gets bit better.”