JAKARTA – Retailers specialising in household goods have posted strong performance in 2024, led by PT Aspirasi Hidup Indonesia Tbk (ACES), operator of the AZKO retail chain, and PT Daya Intiguna Yasa Tbk (MDIY), which operates MR.DIY stores.

Following its rebranding from Ace Hardware to AZKO last year, ACES still managed to record a respectable net profit growth of 15.8% year-on-year (yoy) in 2024, reaching IDR 892 billion.

This was supported by a 12.6% rise in revenue to IDR 8.6 trillion, with the company’s net profit margin standing at 10% as of December 2024.

By contrast, newcomer MDIY delivered much stronger results, with revenue surging 73.9% to IDR 6.8 trillion and net profit soaring 205.6% to IDR 1.1 trillion in 2024. Its net profit margin also jumped to 15.9%.

As retail operators, both companies rely on aggressive store expansion to drive growth. ACES opened 20 new outlets in 2024, with a focus on expansion outside Java (8 stores) compared with Jakarta (7 stores) and the rest of Java (5 stores), bringing AZKO’s total to 245 outlets.

MDIY pursued a far more aggressive expansion strategy, launching 270 new outlets nationwide last year. As a result, the number of MR.DIY stores reached 961 by December 2024.

Despite this rapid rollout, MDIY’s same-store sales growth (SSSG) was limited to 5% in 2024, whereas ACES achieved a stronger SSSG of 8.8%.

Looking ahead, both ACES and MDIY remain committed to store expansion as a key strategy for sustaining growth.

“In 2025, MR.D.I.Y. Indonesia plans to continue its aggressive store expansion strategy seen in 2024, while also improving the customer shopping experience,” MDIY’s management stated in a March press release.

ACES, on the other hand, noted it will focus on expanding outside Java. “From a profitability standpoint, stores outside Java offer higher margins,” ACES management disclosed in a filing to the stock exchange on Wednesday (2/4).

It is worth noting that beyond its physical retail presence, ACES also operates the e-commerce platform Ruparupa, which contributed 8% to total sales in 2024.

On the stock performance front, ACES has slumped 33.77% from the start of the year, closing at IDR 500 last week (27/3). Meanwhile, MDIY closed higher at IDR 1,320, despite a year-to-date (ytd) decline of 23.7%.

As of December 2024, ACES had a market capitalisation of IDR 8.6 trillion, significantly behind MDIY’s IDR 33.3 trillion. However, ACES’s lower price-to-book value (PBV) of just 1.32 may present a more affordable opportunity for investors when compared to MDIY’s PBV of 10.86. (ZH)