The slow Australian economy and weak consumer spending are regularly talked about in the news today, but is it all bad? Sometimes you have to switch off the 24/7 media feeds and take a look yourself.
It may not be all roses here in Oz, but there are ASX companies that are building brands and business overseas. That helps keep profits up, especially when overseas earnings gets a boost from the weaker Aussie dollar. Having that international exposure offsets domestic weakness and opens up consumer markets that are many times larger than Australia.
Here are four such companies successfully expanding overseas that you should know about.
Flight Centre Travel Group Ltd (ASX: FLT) has doubled its half-year overseas earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) since December 2010. In the first half of financial year 2015, all of the 10 foreign markets the company operates in achieved record sales. Asia is the next big market it is expanding into for travel reservations and tour operations.
Premier Investments Limited (ASX: PMV) is riding a retail wave into the UK with its Smiggle stores. The successful children's stationery chain has already opened 19 stores there with another 14 to open within 2015. Premier Investments projects a possible 200 stores within five years. Asian expansion could be next with 18 stores already in Singapore.
One retailer raking in a lot of dough overseas is Domino's Pizza Enterprises Ltd (ASX: DMP). There are 354 stores in Japan, but that could grow to as many as 700 over the next five years. The company's stores in France, The Netherlands and Belgium have achieved high same store sales. Domino's Pizza in Australia is still growing strongly as well for a great trifecta of expansion.
Personal injury law specialist Slater & Gordon Limited (ASX: SGH) is a growing brand in the UK. It has 18 law practices in its UK network through acquisitions and is rebranding them with the Slater & Gordon name to drive brand awareness. Total group first-half net profit was up 46.5% thanks to the recent acquisitions in Australia and the UK.
Of these companies, I prefer Domino's Pizza Enterprises because of the mid-term growth potential and easy-to-understand business.
