Big W has reported a 9 per cent drop for the last six months of 2021, in the face of store closures across NSW and Victoria.
Earnings before interest and tax declined by 81.2 per cent, dropping to $25 million.
Not surprisingly, eCommerce sales increased by 69.4 per cent during the period, though not enough to make up for the impact of its brick-and-mortar operations.
The impact of closures and COVID-related costs was felt through the entire Woolworths Group. EBIT dropped 11 per cent across the board, to $1.382 billion.
Woolworths cut its interim dividend by more than 26 per cent, as they came out of what CEO Brad Banducci called “one of the most challenging halves we have experienced”
Brad Banducci, Woolworths.
Australian supermarkets earnings fell 7.6 per cent, to $1.217 billion, while NZ supermarkets, not impacted by closures, rose 5.9 per cent to $191 million.
Banducci was blunt about the impact of inflation on business, saying it is “inevitable that some prices will increase”. He revealed that shelf prices in the supermarket chain had already increased by 2 to 3 per cent in the first two months of 2022.
Keeping stores COVID safe cost the Group a whopping $239 million, compared to $55 million the prior period.
The Woolworths Group
