JB Hi-Fi says it made $544.9 million in net profit after tax in the 12 months to June 30, 7.7 per cent more than last year, as consumer demand stayed strong for electronics and home appliances.

Total sales rose 3.5 per cent to $9.23 billion, with online sales up 52.8 per cent to $1.63 billion.

“These results reinforce the enormous trust our customers have in our brands and the strength of our multichannel offer, which continues to provide customers with choice on how to shop,” group chief executive Terry Smart said on Monday.

Sales in Australian JB Hi-Fi stores were up 4 per cent to $6.2 billion, with same-store sales up 3.4 per cent. The Good Guys sales grew 2.7 per cent to $2.79 billion, with strong demand for washing machines, portable appliances and dishwashers.

New Zealand JB-Hi Fi store sales were up 0.3 per cent to $NZ262.4 million ($237.4 million).

The group said it saw significant opportunity to expand its business in New Zealand, and would invest $5 million-$10 million annually over the next three years adding new stores, upgrading existing ones and moving its NZ website to Shopify.

The former chief executive of Kiwi appliance and tech retailer Noel Leeming, Tim Edwards, was on Monday announced as head of its New Zealand business.

Online sales across the group represented 17.6 per cent of total sales. In the second half, with all stores having reopened from COVID lockdowns, online sales were 11.9 per cent of total sales – still more than twice their pre-pandemic proportion in 2018/19.

Mr Smart said that that JB Hi-Fi was focusing on a multichannel sales approach and that physical stores would remain an important part of the equation.

“That was evidenced by what we saw during the COVID lockdowns – once the lockdowns ended people flooded back to stores,” he told analysts on a conference call.

He said JB Hi-Fi Australia is trialling a new membership program called JB Perks to personalise the shopping experience, and would soon launch a 90-minute delivery service in partnership with Uber.

The company said it had continued sales momentum in July but did not provide guidance.

While JB Hi-Fi is considered a company in the “consumer discretionary” sector, meaning an area where consumers cut spending as the economy slows down, Mr Smart told analysts he didn’t really agree with that assessment.

“If you think of our categories … a lot of the tech categories like [smart]phones and computers are so integrated into our customers’ lives these days, they don’t fall into that discretionary [category], they are must-haves,” he said.

Mr Smart said talk that manufacturers would increase prices on home appliances appeared to be “dying down a little bit at the moment”.

“There is a potential to some brands to do some smaller price increases, but we’re not seeing what we have done over the past 12 months, that’s for sure,” he said.

JB Hi-Fi finished June with $1.14 billion in inventory, up 20.9 per cent from a year ago, as COVID-related supply shortages eased.

The company declared a full-franked final dividend of $1.53 per share, up 43 per cent from a year ago.

It was up slightly in early trading but by 1.44pm AEST was down 1.2 per cent to $45.

-AAP