Harvey Norman's first half result is coloured by property valuations but pretty decent for all that.

Harvey Norman's first half result for the 6 months to 31 December 2016 released today brings with it a series of impressive numbers, with the New Zealand market particularly appearing to be ahead of market growth:

• An overall H1 top line of AU$3.73 billion (+5.9%).

• An overall NPAT of AU$257 million (+39%). (Taking out the property business, the NPAT shrinks to $204.27 million, still a strong gain of 19.7%.)

• A 14.4% increase in the franchise operations' profits from franchisee sales of AU$2.86 billion (+5.2%).

• Net Profit Before Tax of AU$51.6 million (+22.6%) for company-operated stores.

• Net Profit Before Tax of its AU$2.6 billion property segment was AU$146.7 million (+91%).

The New Zealand operation’s sales (in local currency) were +10.6% and comps +6.5%, both figures handily outpacing the brand’s primary Australian marketplace.

Compared to its peers for the same period, JB Hi-Fi may have showed bigger overall top line growth (and slightly better bottom line gains), but the New Zealand Harvey Norman result handily betters JB Hi-Fi's (see the result here).

Regional Harvey Norman gains and losses in sales and comps for the half were as follows:

H1 FY2017 Sales (AU$)	Aggregated	Comparable
Overall	+5.9%	+5.4%
Australian franchisees	+5.2%	+4.7%
New Zealand	+15.5%	+11.1%
Slovenia & Croatia	+3.6%	+3.8%
Ireland	–3.4%	–3.7%
Northern Ireland	+33.8%	+13.5%
Singapore	+4.2%	+21.5%
Malaysia	–0.7%	–5.8%