Both would be a big loss to the market and have been around for a long time, but you can’t accept the current performance anymore. Some recent language from both groups indicate that’s the case also.
I’m interested to see if Woolworths might also move on Petstock. They really need to go down the path that Coles has done and simply focus on its supermarket division and cut off all the weight. Way too many distractions inside WOW. They have hinted at this is recent months.
I seriously don’t know what they can do with BIGW. Obviously Private Equity might be an option but if they can’t make it work but in 15 years of transformation, what hope is their exactly for the business. I just don’t think this is a case with offloading it and someone making a success out of it, seems to be proven it can’t make sustainable earnings with multiple strategy attempts in the last decade. It’s not worth anything then you need to invest a billion in a balance sheet, to not make any money it seems.
Convert the remaining Target stores into Kmart ones full stop. Any shopping centres with a Target and a Kmart together can merge into one location. This would result in the Target store within that shopping centre closing as a result.
The only issue is lease liabilities which would be considerable, likely a few billion for Target and much higher at BIGW.
Target likely still has a few sites it could convert to Kmart, I think BIGW could offload some sites to the Supermarket division, and its Top 50 could be snapped by Kmart if not co existing.
Then I will be worried about the future of the Target store at The Glen, as there is a 24-hour Kmart at Burwood East (the original store) which is just 5 km away.
Coles has posted a statutory net profit of $1.08 billion for the 2025 financial year, down 3.5% from a year earlier. According to Reuters, consensus estimates were for Coles to report a net profit of $1.11 billion for the period. Supermarket sales rose 4.3%.
Solid performance from Coles. Huge start to the new FY also, nearly 5% in the first two months. Woolworths has invested significantly in price in the Q4 FY24 so will be interesting to see where they sit now.
Here’s another quick take from RBC Capital Markets Equity Research.
“Underlying EBIT beat RBC [estimate] by +6.2%, beat consensus by +6.1% which highlights the cost-out potential after excluding the dual running and transition costs from ADC and CFC transition.”
“Beat driven by strong growth in supermarkets partially offset by a weaker performance for liquor.”
That’s a direct quote from their research.
A translation is that analysts who follow company results for a living were surprised by how well the supermarket performed over the period.
Seems like Big W had a better year overall due to the toy sale carrying more than usual, and of course their online division. I can’t believe I’m saying this but a $50 million profit decline is one their better results this past decade.
Plus a $350m write down on the business though. Not great.
Small hint there about moving that part of the group to ‘independent systems’. That’s no doubt got pre offload written all over it.
Food Group poor performance expected. Interesting weak start to the FY, Coles well ahead. I’d say it will be a transformational year for WOW, and FY27 you would hope some return to high digit growth.
It will be interesting to see if Woolworths will close more Big W stores in the coming months. It can’t just rely on the annual toy sale to boost its bottom line.
The quality of their clothing at Big W has definitely improved. I noticed in their latest email they have some good 50 per cent off deals. The closest Big W is in a suburb I’d prefer not to go to. Whenever I purchase anything online through Big W, Target, K Mart etc it always comes from multiple stores and takes days. If I purchase the same items on Amazon I’ll get it sometimes the same day or worse next much more convenient. They need to improve that. It can’t be very efficient if you buy 5 items and 2 come from store A one from B and 2 from C.
In its latest update, the retail giant said its results were bolstered by strong earnings from Kmart, with the brand’s earnings up 9.2 per cent in the past 12 months.
Those for Bunnings also lifted by 3.8 per cent.
Officeworks lagged with earnings up by just 1.9 per cent.
In total, Wesfarmers’ announced revenue lifted 3.4 per cent to $45.7bn and net profit to $2.93bn.
Profit after tax and excluding significant items increased 3.8 per cent to $2.65bn.
The furniture retailer has reported a strong uplift in profitability and sales for the year ended June 30, driven by positive performance across its segments.
Reported profit before tax for the year rose 39 per cent to $753.10 million, while profit after tax and non-controlling interests grew 47 per cent to $518.02 million.
By segment, franchising operations recorded a 25 per cent uplift in profit before tax, driven by a 6.1 per cent rise in aggregated franchisee sales revenue. The property segment saw profit double, supported by higher net property revaluation.
To help inform next steps, the Albanese Government will release a consultation paper on Monday outlining options to help shoppers make more informed choices and realise the full benefits of unit pricing.
We are seeking community and stakeholder views on options, including:
Introducing a new shrinkflation notification regime
Improving unit price display requirements (including readability and prominence)
Expanding the scope of retailers covered by the Unit Pricing Code
Addressing inconsistency in units of measure to improve in-store and cross-retailer price comparisons
How to introduce civil penalties for non-compliance
Correct, The Reject Shop will change its name to Dollarama, although it will take around two years (expected to be completed in the 2026/27 financial year).
