Shares in Super Retail Group (SRG) have dived more than 16 per cent following a weaker than expected sales result.

SRG lifted sales six per cent during the first half of the 2013/14 financial year, which is well down on the 23 per cent increase recorded last year.

Shares in the company dived from Thursday’s close of $12.50 to as low as $9.50 on the result, before lifting back to around $10.59.

The company expects to record a profit of between $61 million and $62 million for the first half of the 2013/14 financial year, which is an increase from the $60.6 million profit recorded for the same period last year.

Peter Birtles, CEO of SRG, said the result was worse than expected and the company, whose brands include Supercheap Auto, BCF, and sports retailer Rebel, was facing a number of short term challenges.

They include problems with the company’s IT system and the impacts of the slowdown in the mining sector.

“These are predominantly internal issues and we are confident these have now been addressed,” he said.

“We have implemented a number of initiatives to underpin gross margin performance across all three divisions in the second half.

AAP