First half net profit of Premier Investments Ltd. declined, said the company on Monday.

The net profit of the group fell by 14 per cent to become A$42.4 million for the H1 period. This is against A$49.2 million for the same period last year.

The company saw its sales rise by 9 per cent to touch A$476.4 million. Most of this came from the Just Group division which saw sales of A$436.5 million. The net profit of this division rose by 12.3 per cent to become A$56.3 million.

The company informed that poor performance of its bottom line has happened because of the below than expected performance of Portmans retail division. While some units of the division were doing well, on the overall front it was not profitable.

The management said that Portmans saw a decline of 18 per cent in its sales during the above mentioned period.

Just by excluding Portmans, the like-for-like sales rose by 4.7 per cent. If it was included, they went up by merely 1.1 per cent.

What is disappointing is that the group has completely changed the old team in hopes that the new brains would be able to get something out.