Furniture retailer Nick Scali has announced a net profit before tax of $6.9 million for the year ended June 30 2009. Managing director Anthony Scali said the result, ahead of market expectations, was buoyed by a "materially stronger second half."

Net profit before tax for the second half was 16 per cent above the previous corresponding period, whereas the first half was a decline of 45 per cent over the previous first half. Full year net profit before tax was 27 per cent below that of the previous year.

The full year result was achieved despite tough trading conditions, particularly during the period from September 2008 to February 2009, which saw consumer confidence fall to very low levels as a consequence of the economic downturn.

This was compounded by the rapid fall of the Australian dollar against the US dollar in the first half of the year which put further pressure on managing margins in an already difficult market.

From March this year, trading conditions improved and the company's focus on product offering, pricing and marketing initiatives also began to deliver benefits, lifting sales in the second half to 6.2 per cent.

In the final quarter of the year, the company achieved a higher level of sales orders than in recent years, a level of demand which continued into the early weeks of the current financial year, leading to a customer forward order book currently at an historic high.

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