But the company, which owns Super Cheap, rebel, Macpac and BCF, warned that there were still Covid restrictions and lockdowns for the same period last year, which affected stores.

The sales report showed that people were still spending on their cars and recreational goods like camping but the company told investors at its AGM that higher interest rates and cost of living expenses would impact consumer spending.

Even so, it expects to open 30 new stores in 2023, including a “superstore” in Townsville and five rCX stores. It has budgeted to spend $125 million in 2023 in furthering its strategic objectives.

Super Group has also vowed to turn a deeper shade of green echoing “widespread changes to society since our values were first articulated”.

Chair Sally Pitkin, who said she would resign her position in 2024, said the company had reset its emissions target to zero for Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 2030. it also has a goal to have all of its private brand packaging switched to recyclable or reusable by 2025. It is also developing a reconciliation plan and a disability action plan.

“We’ve also strengthened our commitment to climate governance, enhancing transparency around our climate-related financial disclosures,” Pitkin said.

“This reinforces our determination to keep playing the long game _ creating a positive impact on the communities in which we operate and positioning Super Retail Group for shareholder returns over the long term.”

Chief executive Anthony Heraghty said significant investment would be made over the next two years to leverage the data it has collected on customers.

“We are also relaunching our loyalty program and building customer analytics to allow all our businesses to make increasingly personalised data.

“The potential to better leverage our customer data represents an exciting strategic opportunity for the group.