Australia: Woolworths sales growth continues

Australia: Woolworths sales growth continues

Woolworths Limited has released its sales results for the first half of the 2014 financial year (the 27 weeks to 5 January 2014) with key figures showing that group sales from continuing operations (excluding petrol) grew 5.8% to AUD$28.2 billion ($25.2 billion).

The supermarket chain also revealed sales for the second quarter from continuing operations were AUD$16.2 billion ($14.5 billion), an increase of 5.9% on the previous year, while online sales continued on a strong upward curve with more than 40% growth for the 6-month period.

Grant O’Brien, CEO of Woolworths, stated, “This first half sales result was a strong and positive reflection of the four Strategic Priorities that have shaped our focus over the last two years. The first priority, and the central theme of our focus, has been to ‘extend our leadership in Food and Liquor’”.

“The improvement in the growth rates for our Food and Liquor business demonstrates the transformation that is underway. Successful Christmas trading in Australian Food and Liquor helped to deliver sales growth of 4.8% for the half year as well as increases in market share, customer numbers, basket size and items sold. Customers enjoyed the benefits of our market leading positions in price and range,” O’Brien added.

Source: Australian Food News