The Australian supermarket powerhouse has shrugged off the effects of the downturn to post a 6.5% rise in sales for the 13 weeks to 5 April.
The company said third-quarter sales totalled $12.3 billion, up from $11.58 billion a year ago. Woolies’s Australian food and liquor business increased sales by 10%, while the consumer electronics division was the real star, posting a 16% rise in revenue.
Petrol sales fell by 11.4% as a result of lower petrol prices and hotel sales increased by just 1.5%, reflecting a reduction in the number of people eating out.
Woolworths’s chief executive officer, Michael Luscombe, described the figures as “another strong overall sales result”.
“Woolworths continues to reinvest in all its businesses to improve our stores, create jobs, add services, deliver value, and create an even better experience for our customers. This result reflects the continued positive response from our customers to these reinvestment strategies” he said in a statement.
However, Woolworths says it is “mindful that discretionary spending continues to be influenced by macro-economic factors and by the recent events in global financial markets” and says inflation, petrol prices, interest rates, and rising unemployment make it difficult to predict results.
“Subject to the uncertainty regarding these factors, we expect sales from continuing operations to grow in the upper single digits (excluding petrol sales) on a 52 week basis.”
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James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
