For its first quarter to March, Briscoe said its homeware division sales increased by 1.62% to $87.9million, while its Rebel sporting goods sales increased 6.64% to $58.4million.
Briscoe managing director Rod Duke said it was a ``positive start'' to the financial year, which was highlighted by strong sporting goods sales and continued double-digit online sales growth.
Briscoe shares were unchanged after the announcement at $3.42, down 12% on a year ago.
Forsyth Barr broker Suzanne Kinnaird said the result was ``close to expectations'' and underpinned by the strong performance of Rebel Sport.
``Homeware was broadly flat against the prior year,'' Mrs Kinnaird said.
She said the bottom-line profit was ``tracking modestly'' ahead of a year ago but in line with expectations of earnings-per-share growth of more than 2.3%.
Craigs Investment partners broker Peter McIntyre said it was a ``tidy result'', especially given sales growth a year ago was 8.9%.
Not only did Rebel Sport reflect consumers were still in ``spending mode'', Mr McIntyre expected Briscoe to post increased online sales in its more detailed first-half trading report.
Mr Duke said the retail sector remained highly competitive so achieving sales growth with bottom-line profit tracking marginally ahead of last year was a satisfactory start to the year.
``Last year's first-quarter sales for the homeware segment grew by 8.80%, so to improve on that was going to be tough,'' he said in a statement.
Mr Duke said trading patterns during the quarter were ``significantly different'' from last year's, with Easter falling earlier than last year and outside school holidays.
