Consumers are renting as opposed to forking out thousnds for new consumer electronics, IT and appliances, Radio Rentals has said after reporting a net profit of $22M.Radio Rentals Manager Director John Hughes said the company had done well in a tough environment as more people chose to rent goods amid an uncertain economic outlook.
“When you’ve had such substantial growth as we have over the last few years, you would think that there is still good growth potential: let’s say high single digit, low double digit relative to our core rental business and whatever we can garner in new areas,” Mr Hughes told AAP.
Hughes did not say whether he now regrets, closing down the Big Brown Box web site last year ahead of what appears to be a growth in demand for online web sites.
Thorn Group Ltd who own Radio Rentals saw their shares rise more than five per cent on the Australian stock exchange on Tuesday as the company forecast a strong year ahead after posting a full year profit increase of 13 per cent.
Radio Rentals and Rentlo stores saw net profits rise to $22.04 million in fiscal 2010/11, up from $19.5 million per cent in the prior year.
Thorn Group said its recent performance had been driven by 7.5 per cent customer growth in the core Radio Rentals and Rentlo businesses.
