Iran war: How The Warehouse Group is coping with the fuel crisis
Monday, 30 March 2026
Warehouse Group chief executive Mark Stirton says the retail group is “monitoring” the fuel price and supply situation daily as the situation has a “bearing on lots of parts” of the retail business.
“We’ve got to stay alert to it,” said Stirton told The Post.
The operator of retail chains The Warehouse, Warehouse Stationery and Noel Leeming said the conflict in the Middle East and the subsequent oil volatility impacting fuel prices had the potential to have “a real impact on our business”.
While the situation was fast moving, this type of disruption was part of the group’s general business planning, Stirton said.
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“We do scenario planning on many things that are volatile in our environment, everything from FX to fuel, commodity prices are very much in our DNA, so our job is to make sure that we can manage that the most responsibly we can with all the information we can.”
Stirton expects fuel volatility and scarcity to have knock-on effects to impact transport costs and consumer spending appetites.
“We’re more worried about blank sailings and ships not arriving on time because of where the shipping lanes are, and different contentions for ships. That's a worry for us, and then there's the cost pressures on that side of the shipping that will come through. We're having to monitor that very, very closely.
“We've got good contracts and good partners, but you know some of that is definitely going to flow through,” said Stirton.
It was too early to tell the extent of the impact that could be felt, including whether or not potential stock delays would materialise, he said.
“We haven't been notified of any major delays, but there's no stock shortages. We haven't got to any any challenges at this point.”
The Warehouse Group grew sales revenue by 0.3% to $1.61 million in the six months ending February 1, and its after-tax profit for the period increased 33.6% to $15.7m, compared with $11.8m in the same period a year earlier.
Sales at the red shed The Warehouse rose 0.5% to $949.5m, and Warehouse Stationery sales rose 5.7% to $116.1m.
Meanwhile, sales at Noel Leeming declined 1.2% to $542.2m.
Stirton, who is hopeful the group will return to turn a profit by the end of the financial year, said there were no immediate challenges the group was facing, but he was mindful that the situation was evolving quickly.
“If it becomes different situations with fuel scarcity or something like that, then obviously that does challenge how we move goods. But from a goods perspective, we're not challenged.”
Asked about how confident the group was that it could achieve a similar level of growth - or better - in the second half of the financial year, Stirton said: “Some of our plans are evolving because of this crisis that is impacting us, so we're going to have to adjust accordingly. As we stand right now, I don't know what that impact will be, but we are positive about the future.
“You’ve got to control what's in your control and that's what we've done in this first half, and I think if we are disciplined and do the same thing, we'll give ourselves the best chance of building this business back up to where it should be over the over the medium term.”
The group will open two new stores - a Noel Leeming and a The Warehouse in Mangawhai - after closing three stores in the last two years.