Harvey Norman reports "flat" sales in third quarter.

Harvey Norman today announced that sales from its franchised outlets and commercial divisions in Australia were “flat” in the three months to March 31.

Like-for-like sales in the period were only up 1.2%, compared to 6.5% and 4.6% in the second and first quarters respectively.

Total and like-for-like sales for the nine months to March 31 were up 4.3%. Harvey Norman’s overseas businesses have been hit by a deterioration in the value of the New Zealand and European currencies.

Total company sales (including Australia, NZ, Slovenia and Ireland but excluding Singapore) in the nine months to March 31 increased by 2.2% to $4.64 billion. Like-for-like sales increased by only 1.4%.

The company said that overseas sales had been negatively affected by a 2.9% deterioration in the NZ dollar, a 13.6% deterioration in the Euro and a 21.6% decline in the value of the UK pound.