Big turn for Woolworths
Woolworths’ operations for the 26 weeks ending 28 December 2025 are showing improvements, but its basic earnings will take a hit following the sale of an Australian property, which inflated earnings for the previous period.
In a trading statement, Woolworths said that its earnings per share for its interim period are expected to decrease by 35.0% to 30.0%, to a range of 159.5 to 171.8 cents per share.
This is due to the base effects of including the profit from the sale of the Bourke Street property in Melbourne, which houses a David Jones flagship store, in the prior year.
In the 2025 financial year, Woolworths successfully disposed of the property in Melbourne, Australia, for A$223.5 million, recognising a profit on disposal of R792 million.
Including the sale in its bookkeeping negatively impacted year-on-year earnings growth for the current interim period due to base effects.
However, excluding the sale in its projections, Woolworths said that it expects headline earnings per share to increase between 7.0% and 12.0%, to a range of 163.5 to 171.1 cents per share.
Accounting for the one-off costs related to the restructuring of Country Road’s operating model in the prior period, as well as unrealised foreign exchange losses in the current period, the group’s adjusted headline earnings are in the range of -2.0% to 3.0%, or 165.7 to 174.2 cents per share.
This reflects a turn for the group, following reporting declines in Headline EPS and adjusted diluted Headline EPS of 23.9% and 19.2%, respectively, in FY25.
The group’s overall performance was relatively strong, with group turnover and concession sales above inflation at 5.4% and 6.1%, respectively, on a constant currency basis.
The group saw positive sales growth across all segments of its business, despite a constrained macroeconomic environment in both South Africa and Australia.
| Metric | 26 weeks to 29 December 2024 (reported, cents) | 26 weeks to 28 December 2025 (expected range, %) | 26 weeks to 28 December 2025 (expected range, cents) |
|---|---|---|---|
| EPS | 245.4 | -35.0% to -30.0% | 159.5 to 171.8 |
| HEPS | 152.8 | 7.0% to 12.0% | 163.5 to 171.1 |
| adHEPS | 169.1 | -2.0% to 3.0% | 165.7 to 174.2 |
Woolworths South Africa also delivered above-market turnover and concession sales growth of 6.8% for the period despite weak consumer confidence.
The group’s Food business continued to show substantial turnover and concession sales growth of 7.0% and 5.2% on a comparable-store basis.
The Food business saw consistent month-on-month market share gains and positive underlying volume growth, supported by continued focus and investment in the premium food offering and overall customer experience.
Revenue from Woolies Dash grew by 23.0%, with the online channel now contributing 7.2% to SA Food sales. Net trading space also increased by 4.3% (weighted basis: 1.8%) on the prior period.
It said that the expansion of its Midrand distribution centre is well progressed, even though it has hit the group’s gross profit margin due to heightened depreciation from the massive investment.
Fashion, Beauty and Home (FBH) turnover and concession sales also increased by 6.2% and 6.4% on a comparable-store basis, supported by improved product availability due to better value chain initiatives.
The momentum was maintained over Black Friday and the festive season, with sales growth of 6.1% in the last seven weeks of the period, with strong market share gains.
Price movement over the period averaged 2.8%, with Fashion inflation at 1.3%, driven by the clearance of excess inventory and price investments in Kidswear.
This had a significant impact on GP Margin for the Fashion business. The group’s Beauty and Home businesses delivered stronger growth of 8.9% and 14.0%, respectively.
The ongoing initiative to optimise space and efficiency metrics resulted in a net decrease in trading space of 1.9% relative to the prior period, while online sales contributed 6.2% to FBH sales.
The Woolworths Financial Services book increased by 1.8% on a year-on-year basis to the end of December 2025, and increased by 2.6% when excluding the sale of part of the legal book.
“This was driven through disciplined focus on quality growth through both new accounts as well as credit limit increases on existing accounts,” said Woolworths.
“The annualised impairment rate for the six months ended 31 December 2025 was 6.4% and remains sector leading.”
Country Road Group
Despite improving trading conditions in Australia and New Zealand, the retail sector remains challenging and highly promotionally driven.
Country Road Group (CRG) sales increased by 2.3% for the period and by 2.5% on a comparable-store basis. The Country Road, Witchery, and Politix brands traded ahead of the prior period following a massive restructuring.
“Following a strong Black Friday and Cyber Monday trading period in November, Australia’s December retail trading performance proved softer than anticipated,” said Woolworths.
“As a result, CRG’s sales growth averaged 1.0% for the last seven weeks of the period.”Net trading space increased by 0.2% on the prior comparable period, with the online contribution to sales is broadly unchanged at 27.2%.”
Since the group announced a share buyback programme in September 2025, 6.9 million shares have been repurchased at a weighted-average share price of R51.23.
The group’s interim result for the period will be released on Wednesday, 4 March 2026.
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