Harvey Norman has announced that profit before income tax for the six months to 31 December 2009 was $237.77 million, an increase of almost 47 per cent on the same period of the previous year.

Earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) rose from $181.60 million in the half year to 31 December 2008 to $253.10 million a year later.

While the number of franchised outlets stood at 195 at the end of 2009, three less than the previous year, Harvey Norman chairman, Gerry Harvey, believes that the company’s franchised outlets are largely responsible for its success last year.

The franchising operations segment continued to be the main driver of performance as seen by our franchising operations margin increasing to 6.7 per cent from 5.8 per cent in the HY December 2008, he said in a company statement.

Total revenues and other income items from continuing operations for HY 2010 was $1.31 billion.

Franchisee sales revenue jumped from $2.61 billion in the six months to December 2008 to $2.78 billion for the same period in 2009.

Following a year of consolidation in 2010, we plan on resuming our store roll-out program in 2011. We have entered into a joint development with IKEA to build a 72,000 sqm, two level large format homemaker shopping centre in Springvale, Melbourne – expected to be the largest and the best of its kind in Australia, Harvey said.

The centre is expected to open in the first quarter of calendar-2012.