Amid sales disruption.
Woolworths Holdings, owner of David Jones, has reported a 0.9% drop in sales for the 52 weeks ended 24 June 2018. The group described 2018 as a difficult year with ‘extremely challenging’ trading conditions in both South Africa and Australia.
For the second half of FY18, David Jones sales increased by 2.2% and 2.7% in comparable stores. Online sales grew 21.4%, accounting for 5.3% of total sales.
The group confirmed that sales disruption from the refurbishment of the Elizabeth Street store in Sydney will continue through to December 2019.
In a statement to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, Woolworths Holdings said:
“It has been a year in which we substantially completed key David Jones business transformation initiatives. The disruption experienced during the year by the implementation of new inventory and online systems, the repositioning of the foods business, and the head office relocation, impacted both gross margin and costs.”