Harvey Norman could delist from the ASX in coming decades as burdensome compliance weighs heavily on the premium white goods retailer, which had a 30.2 per cent profit dip as consumers sought more affordable household purchases.

Executive chairman Gerry Harvey bemoaned the climbing costs associated with continuous disclosure obligations required of an ASX-listed company and said the retail giant he co-founded would most likely not exist in its current form in the next two decades.

“I don’t think we’ll be a public company 10 or 20 years from now. I think that we’ll be owned by private equity or privatisation,” Harvey said. “Exactly what, I don’t know … It’s a case of, you’ve got to move with the times.”

He said the company had always had conversations with private equity in the past 50 years and he said he was “sure” a takeover would happen. “I’ve got no doubt it’ll eventuate.”

Harvey Norman recorded a 4 per cent slide in revenue to $4.1 billion and a 35 per cent drop in net profit to $352.5 million as Australians pulled back on their spending and sought to trade down and find cheaper alternatives.

The retailer predominantly caters to the more premium market. Harvey said it had sold less product but that its market share had increased in the higher end of the market.

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