Woolworths is turning a corner
Woolworths has seen positive sales growth in all segments of its business despite the challenging macro-economic environment across both South Africa and Australia.
Despite being one of South Africa’s largest retailers, Woolworths has faced struggles in both of its key markets, which led to an earnings decrease in the 2025 financial year. But things do seem to be improving.
In a trading update for the 19 weeks ended November 9, 2025, group turnover and concession sales for the period grew well above inflation at 6.2% and by 6.8% on a constant currency basis.
Woolworths South Africa was reported to have achieved a very credible turnover and concession sales growth of 7.4% for the period, despite subdued consumer confidence and spending.
The Food business continued to deliver strong turnover and concession sales growth of 7.7% and 6.0% on a comparable-store basis, with consistent month-on-month market share gains.
Woolworths said that our ongoing innovation and enhanced customer experience supported the Food business’s performance.
Price movement has declined steadily and averaged 4.6% for the period, while trading space increased by 4.8%.
Woolies Dash sale growth of 24.2%, with ongoing investment in digital platforms. The online channel now accounts for 7.3% of SA Food sales.
Fashion Beauty and Home (FBH), which has been a problem area for the group, saw turnover and concession sales increase by 6.2% and by 6.6% on a comparable-store basis.
Trading momentum in FBH improved on the prior period, with sales growing ahead of the market in each of the past six months, supported by increased product availability
Price movement averaged 3.3% over the short period, incorporating Fashion inflation at 2.2%, with positive underlying volume growth, supported by improved product resonance and higher sell-through rates.
The Beauty and Home business saw strong growth of 9.6% and 13.8%, respectively.
The ongoing initiatives to optimise space resulted in a further 1.8% decrease in net trading space compared to the prior period, while online sales contributed 6.0% to FBH sales.
The Woolworths Financial Services book decreased by 2.0% on a year-on-year basis to the end of October 2025.
However, it increased by 1.5% when excluding the sale of part of the legal book, with a focus on quality growth via both new accounts and credit limit increases on existing accounts.
The annualised impairment rate for the four months ended October 31, 2025, increased slightly to 6.7%.
Australian improvements
The Country Road Group (CRG) has benefited from trading conditions in Australia and New Zealand, which are gradually improving, despite the retail sector remaining challenging and highly promotional.
CRG’s sales increased by 3.3% for the period and by 3.9% on a comparable-store basis.
Except for Mimco, all brands are trading ahead of last year and benefited from the repositioning of the underperforming brands and the restructuring of CRG’s operating model.
Net trading space and online sales contribution have remained broadly unchanged compared to the prior comparable period.
CRG has struggled recently, and recorded a significant decline in its aEBITDA by over 40% to A$103.9 million in the 2025 financial year, while it also recorded an eEBIT loss of A$18.1 million.
Amid declining profitability and dividends, the group recently announced a share buyback programme, with 6.9 million shares repurchased to date, at an average share price of R51.22.
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