Nick Scali sits on JobKeeper subsidies after profit spike: So which firms have repaid so far?

The rift between large companies that have repaid JobKeeper and those that have not is growing, with Nick Scali the latest firm to come under fire after recording a 99.5% surge in underlying net profit.

The lounge and dining furniture business told investors on Thursday that its underlying net profit grew to $40.5 million, and sales increased by 24.4% to $171.1 million, for the six months to the end of December 2020.

The spike in profits comes after Nick Scali received $3.55 million in JobKeeper wage subsidies and $539,000 in COVID-19 rent relief.

Growing pressure is mounting on large businesses such as Nick Scali that have snubbed the lead of Toyota, which returned $18 million worth of JobKeeper payments after its profits increased by 30% in the final quarter of last year.

Toyota CEO Matthew Callachor said at the time that returning JobKeeper was “the right thing to do as a responsible corporate citizen”.

To date, these are the companies that have and have not repaid JobKeeper after recording strong profits last year:

Firms that have given back JobKeeper:

• Toyota announced it will return $18 million in mid-January.
• Super Retail Group, which owns Supercheap Auto, Rebel and MacPac, will return $1.7 million.
• Iluka Resources pledged to repay $13.6 million.
• Domino’s said last week it will return $792,000.

Firms under pressure to give back JobKeeper:

• Nick Scali
• Accent Group
• Premier Investments — owner of Just Jeans, Smiggle, Dotti and Portmans
• Harvey Norman
• Crown Entertainment

Do you think large companies that recorded increased profits in 2020 should return JobKeeper payments? Email us at news@smartcompany.com.au or leave a comment below.