Trading space in Woolworths Food grew by 3.2% for the 53 weeks ending 30 June 2024, while online sales increased by 52.8%, contributing 5.5% of South African sales.
The retailers said the sales were driven by increased penetration of Woolies Dash offering, which delivered a 71.2% increase.
Woolworths Food business delivered strong and above-market growth, reinforcing its strength and resilience, and the trust that customers place in our Woolies brand.
Turnover and concession sales grew by 11.2%, and by 9.0% on a comparable 52-week period.
On a comparable store basis, sales grew by 6.9%, notwithstanding the impact of taxi strikes and Avian flu in the first half of the current year.
Price inflation for the period averaged 7.9%. Underlying trading momentum continued into the second half of the current period, with overall growth of 9.6% further buoyed by the inclusion of the Absolute Pets acquisition in the fourth quarter.
The group turnover and concession sales from continuing operations (i.e. excluding David Jones in the prior period) for the current period grew by 6.2% and by 5.6% on a constant currency basis, notwithstanding the challenging trading conditions impacting consumer discretionary spend across our businesses.
On a comparable 52-week period ended 23 June 2024 (’52 weeks’), sales grew by 4.3%, and by 3.2% in the comparable second half (‘H2’) of the year. Online sales grew by 13.3% and contributed 9.2% to Group sales for the year.
In South Africa, the disruption to business operations caused by loadshedding and congestion at the ports eased in the last quarter.
“Notwithstanding this, the impact of weak consumer confidence arising from the sustained impact of higher living costs and elevated interest rates, weighed on discretionary spend throughout the period. Whilst we have no control over the macro factors impacting our business, we have remained resolutely focused on the execution of our strategies and continued investment behind our future growth initiatives,” said Woolworths.
Whilst the group has maintained its stringent focus on preserving gross profit margin and containing costs, we
equally continue to invest behind our key strategic initiatives.
“This, coupled with the impact of a weaker trading environment, has resulted in negative operational leverage in both apparel businesses. This was particularly prevalent in CRG, which was further impacted by inflated import costs due to a weaker Australian dollar, and the business’s inherently higher fixed cost base. Furthermore, the reassessment of the carrying value of the Politix business in CRG, has resulted in a non-cash impairment of goodwill which impacts the earnings per share for continuing operations and the Total Group,” Woolworths.
The retailer said as a result, earnings per share, headline EPS and adjusted diluted HEPS from continuing operations for the comparable 52-week period is expected to be lower than the reported EPS, HEPS and adHEPS
for the prior period within the ranges reflected in the table below. This should be considered in the context of
the high prior period base, in which the Group delivered record earnings.
