Woolworths Ltd today (23 July) revealed it was able to grow its full-year sales, despite the Australian retailer's supermarkets reporting falling prices.
In an announcement to the Australian stock exchange, Woolworths said sales rose by 4.7% in the year to 24 June. Food and liquor sales were up 3.8%, while home improvement sales jumped 24.7% and petrol sales gained 11.4%.
The company said its supermarket unit was able to grow its share of a market characterised by "subdued customer confidence" and "highly competitive trading conditions". The retailer said it increased market share, customer numbers and items sold during the year.
On average, food prices fell 4.4% in the second half of the year. In the first six months, they were down 3.7% year-on-year. Deflation has been driven by the fierce price-war raging between Australia's two largest supermarket groups, Woolworths and Coles.
"These results have been achieved at a time when our customers are benefiting from lower prices due to strong competition and deflation across our business," CEO Grant O'Brien emphasised.
A strong end to a challenging year
Pleasing progress against plan
More hard work and more upside to come
Woolworths Limited today announced full year sales from continuing operations of $55.1 billion, an increase of 4.8% on the previous year. Total Group sales amounted to $56.7 billion, an increase of 4.7% on the previous year.
CEO Grant O’Brien said: “Woolworths is pleased with the 4.7% growth in its full year sales result.
The result is underpinned by continued growth in customer numbers, market share and units sold. The last quarter in particular was a stronger end to what was a challenging year. Retail conditions remained subdued due to consumer and business uncertainty and an unseasonably cold and wet summer period. The impact of this was exacerbated by significant deflation.
“Importantly these results have been achieved at a time when our customers are benefiting from lower prices due to strong competition and continuing deflation across our businesses. This confirms the resilience of our business as we continually adapt to the changing economic environment.
“There is a lot of hard work ahead, but with a lot of upside as well. Despite the tough economic times, we will continue to invest in developing new stores, building our multi-option infrastructure and building new businesses like Masters, which will benefit the whole community through additional jobs and economic growth.”
