Woolworths has left its biggest rival behind, with the supermarket delivering one of its strongest quarterly results in years.
In a press release announcing the company’s FYQ3 results to investors, Woolworths Group Chief Executive Officer Brad Banducci said the company “are still in the early stages of our turnaround and are focused on the many opportunities we have to further improve our business for the benefit of our customers, team members, suppliers, community and shareholders.”
“We are pleased with the progress we have made on our key priorities with the strong sales growth in Australian Food during the quarter a particular highlight. However, H2’17 will reflect the financial impact of higher investment in key areas, cost price increases (particularly in meat and produce) and our response to ongoing competition and promotional intensity.”
The company reported an increase in Australian food sales of 5.1% (to $9.3 billion) with comparable sales growth of 4.5%, continuing the strong growth of the previous quarter.
Speaking about the other wings of the Woolworth’s business empire, Banducci said that “BIG W is a work in progress and its turnaround will be a multi-year journey.”
This quarter, Big W sales fell 8.6% to $757 million.
“Due to the investment we are undertaking as part of our revised plan, we currently expect BIG W to report a loss before interest and tax of $115-135 million for H2’17,” he said.
