Woolworths released its FY09 results yesterday and as reported by Current.com.au, Dick Smith and the consumer electronics sector performed very strongly. In addition to this the supermarket division and Big W also witnessed exceptional growth in these tough times.
According to the results announcement, Woolworths Limited as a whole achieved full year sales of $49.6 billion, on a 52 week normalised basis sales increased by $3.4 billion or 7.5 per cent on the previous year.
The Australian Food and Liquor division of the company witnessed sales for the year of $32.8 billion an increase of 9.6 per cent over last year with comparable sales for the year increasing 7.4 per cent. This compares to last year’s comparable sales of 6.3 per cent.
Greg Foran, director of food, liquor and petrol, commented on the pleasing results.
“This is another solid performance demonstrating the degree to which customers in this current economic climate have embraced our key strategic initiatives such as price reinvestment, the 2010c store format, and our Everyday Rewards program,” he said.
Big W was another strong performer demonstrating full year sales of $4.3 billion in sales or an increase of 10.5 per cent over the previous year. Comparable sales for the full year were 7.1 per cent.
The fourth quarter alone was also very impressive for the retailer, with a 12.9 per cent increase in its sales and 11.5 per cent comparable sales growth.
Julie Coates, general manager of Big W, said that the result was on the back of providing great value and choice for consumers.
“This is a great result for Big W and a clear endorsement of the success of the Big W value proposition. Our continued focus on providing great value and choice to our customers means that Big W has been well placed to support Australian consumers during the current economic climate,” she said.
“Home and family categories in particular benefited from the impact of the government stimulus packages.”