Woolworths Holdings Ltd (WHL) has announced it preliminary annual results.<\/p>\n
Group sales increased by 3.0% to R74.3 billion, with growth in the second half impacted by increasingly difficult trading conditions in both South Africa and Australia, the company said in a shareholder statement.<\/p>\n
These tough conditions were also reflected in the adjusted pre-tax profit which was down 8.3% to R5.5 billion.<\/p>\n
Earnings per share (which includes the Aus$172.6 million profit on the disposal by David Jones of its Market Street property) increased by 24.8% to 566.7 cps, while headline earnings per share declined by 7.6% to 417.7 cps.<\/p>\n
The Board declared a final dividend of 313.0 cps – in line with last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cDespite difficult trading conditions in both South Africa and Australia, all of our businesses managed to grow ahead of the market. This reflects our strong commitment to being a highly effective, customer-focused business with a strong portfolio of brands,” said\u00a0WHL Group CEO Ian Moir.<\/p>\n
“Lower food inflation into the second half of the year saw the return of increasingly positive volume growth as we continued to focus on price competitiveness without compromising on the quality and innovation that our customers expect.”<\/p>\n
“The Food Services business showed a particularly strong performance offering our customers a unique, immersive shopping experience,” he said.<\/p>\n
Woolworths Food grew well above the market throughout the period with sales increasing by 8.6%, said Moir.<\/p>\n
In comparison, clothing and general merchandise sales increased by 1.4%, with price movement of 6.6%.<\/p>\n
“Despite the difficult trading conditions, we traded ahead of most other apparel retailers and continued to build our fashion credibility with a segmented, brand-directed customer experience,” said Moir.<\/p>\n
The group’s Australian also showed slight growth with David Jones sales increasing by 1.0% in Australian dollar terms, while the termination of the Dick Smith electronics concession impacting growth by 1.0%.<\/p>\n
Country Road Group sales increased by 5.1% in Australian dollar terms and showed a marked improvement in the second half, with newly-acquired Politix adding 3.7% to growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cMarket conditions in the year ahead are likely to be constrained by the same economic and political conditions that impacted our performance during the year under review. We will also continue to see more structural change in both South Africa and Australia.”<\/p>\n
“However we are confident that our strategies will deliver a future-fit business capable of long term profitable growth. We expect our food and clothing businesses in both South Africa and Australia to continue to outperform their respective markets,\u201d said Moir.<\/p>\n