Winning electronics retailer, JB Hi-Fi, says it expects to better its sales result for the 2007 financial year, which reached an incredible $1.7 billion, with the company forecasting $1.8 billion and net profit after tax of up to $60 million.

While analysts have forecast profits of $57 million for the period, JB Hi-Fi chief executive officer, Richard Uechtritz, is confident that after seven years of back to back growth, the company will again come up trumps.

“We expect the full [2008] financial year NPAT to be between $57 – $60 million, a 41% to 49% increase on the prior year,” he said in a notice to shareholders today.

Australia’s third largest retailer which is beaten only by supermarket chain Woolworths and consumer electronics giant Harvey Norman, today announced sales increased 50 per cent for the half-year ended 31 December 2007, compared with the corresponding previous period.

Uechtritz also speculated on the consumer electronics retailing market as a whole, saying that in the next 12 months he expects the market to continue to consolidate, with the “big getting bigger.”

This is certainly the case for JB Hi-Fi, which plans to open at least five new outlets around the country this year, after adding 12 new stores in Australia in the second half of last year, bringing the total stores to almost 110.

“We are delighted with another great result. Our unique and technology focused retail model continues to perform strongly. We should continue to benefit from strong comparable sales, maturing of recently opened stores, many new store opportunities, a lower cost of doing business and better buying power,” said Uechtritz.