G41 Food Retailing

Woolworths’ pub fund lightens load with $603m property sale

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Original article by Ben Wilmot, Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 17 : 9-Sep-14

Real estate funds management group Charter Hall and industry superannuation fund HOSTPLUS will jointly pay $A603m via a new unlisted vehicle to acquire pub assets. The seller of the freehold properties is the ALH Group linked to bottle shops and pubs operator Woolworths. The latter, through its venture with entrepreneur Bruce Mathieson, will lease back the 54 sites. The real estate holdings divestment by Woolworths has now reached $A2.9bn in value

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, CHARTER HALL GROUP – ASX CHC, AUSTRALIAN LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY GROUP LIMITED, BRUANDWO PTY LTD, HOST-PLUS, MH CARNEGIE AND COMPANY PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN PUBS FUND, DAN MURPHY’S, BWS – BEER WINE SPIRITS, SHOPPING CENTRES AUSTRALASIA PROPERTY GROUP – ASX SCP, LAUNDY HOTELS PTY LTD, TELSTRA STAFF SUPERANNUATION SCHEME, ALE PROPERTY GROUP – ASX LEP, HOTEL PROPERTIES INVESTMENTS – ASX HPI, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES

Coles confirms job cuts in Melbourne

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 4-Sep-14

Management confirmed on 3 September 2014 that Coles Group will retrench and redeploy 400 Melbourne support staff. The close to $A40 million in savings arising from the retrenchments will be used to revamp stores and cut grocery prices. The restructure is the largest by the supermarket chain since its 2007 acquisition of Wesfarmers. Several general managers recruited as part of the $A20 billion takeover are said to be leaving Coles under its new MD, John Durkan

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Iced-coffee drinkers ‘Dare’ to be different

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Original article by Roy Morgan Research
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 2-Sep-14

A Roy Morgan Single Source survey has found that 6.8 per cent of Australians aged 14+ consumed coffee-flavoured milk at least once in any given seven-day period during the year to June 2014. Some 4.9 per cent consumed a brand that only offers coffee-flavoured milk, while just 2.8 per cent consumed brands that offer coffee as well as other flavours. Dare is the most popular dedicated iced coffee brand of flavoured milk, with consumption rising from 0.7 per cent of the population in 2009 to 1.8 per cent in 2014

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED, LION-DAIRY AND DRINKS PTY LTD, FARMERS UNION FOODS

Coles takes axe to workers

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 19 : 3-Sep-14

Analysts are not certain yet how extensive the downsizing moves by John Durkan, the new CEO of major retailer Coles, will be. It is being forecast that between 10% and 20% of the 3,000 staff at its head office in Melbourne may be made redundant, in a bid to cut costs. Experts note that Coles is trying to maintain its ability to compete on price in the groceries sector with rival supermarket chains Aldi and Woolworths. Others say parent Wesfarmers should have detailed the job cuts during the results presentation in August 2014

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, SHAW STOCKBROKING LIMITED

Sunday trading hailed a success More spent in Sunday shopping

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Original article by Kim Macdonald
The West Australian – Page: 1 : 25-Aug-14

A survey by the Curtin Business School and the Chamber of Commerce & Industry of Western Australia has found that 55 per cent of respondents are in favour of extended retail trading hours on Sundays. Sunday trading was introduced in late August 2012, and the Chamber’s research shows that the average consumer spent an additional $A322 in 2013-14, while retail spending was $A2.6bn higher overall than in 2011-12

CORPORATES
CURTIN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY. CURTIN BUSINESS SCHOOL, CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (INCORPORATED), KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, WESTERN AUSTRALIAN INDEPENDENT GROCERS’ ASSOCIATION

Aldi fails to disclose tap and go charges

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Original article by Shaun Drummond
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 8 : 19-Aug-14

The Australian Securities & Investments Commission has ordered Aldi to take remedial action to display fees for contactless card transactions at the point of sale. An investigation by the corporate regulator found that Aldi had failed to disclose the fact that a surcharge of 0.5 per cent applies to payments that are made using so-called "tap and go" credit cards

CORPORATES
ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIAN SECURITIES AND INVESTMENTS COMMISSION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, VISA INTERNATIONAL, MASTERCARD AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Popular Aldi threatens Woolworths, Coles duopoly

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 12 : 15-Aug-14

Aldi currently boasts annual sales of about $A5.3bn in Australia. A UBS report estimates that Aldi could potentially lift its sales to $A9.3bn in the next five year. The firm forecasts that the annual sales of Coles, Woolworths and Metcash could be slashed by $A250m to $A350m by 2019 due to the growth of Aldi. Ben Gilbert of UBS notes that Aldi could achieve even stronger growth if it addresses issues such as the quality of its fresh food and long queues at checkouts, which are negatively affecting consumer sentiment toward the group

CORPORATES
ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, METCASH LIMITED – ASX MTS, TESCO PLC, J SAINSBURY PLC, ASDA GROUP PLC, MORRISONS, LIDL GMBH & CO KG, ROY MORGAN RESEARCH LIMITED

Kennett to steer Coles supplier charter

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Original article by Richard Gluyas
The Australian – Page: 20 : 7-Aug-14

John Durkan, CEO of dominant supermarkets chain Coles, has announced a new charter to safeguard the interests of its suppliers. The initiative is in addition to the ongoing talks by Coles, rival Woolworths and the Australian Food & Grocery Council on a code of conduct for the sector, which have entered a consultation period to last until the end of August 2014. The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission had accused Coles of forcing small food manufacturers into contributing $A16m to the cost of a supply chain overhaul. The new charter will be overseen by ex-Victorian premier Jeff Kennett

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, COLES GROUP LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUSTRALIAN FOOD AND GROCERY COUNCIL, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Market power laws ‘ludicrous’

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Original article by Phillip Coorey, Nassim Khadem
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 4 : 6-Aug-14

The National Press Club has heard from Wesfarmers CEO Richard Goyder, also chair of the Business 20 forum advising the Australian Government. His company owns major retailers Coles and Bunnings, and he rejected plans to extend section 46 of the Australian Consumer Law to small business operators in order to protect them against market dominance by large corporations. Goyder threatened that his group’s tax payments of $A1.5bn per annum and employment of 200,000 local jobs could be reduced, if it adopted the profit shifting strategies of overseas-based rivals such as Aldi or CostCo

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, COLES GROUP LIMITED, BUSINESS 20 (B20), GROUP OF TWENTY (G-20), AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, COSTCO WHOLESALE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WESFARMERS BUNNINGS LIMITED, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB (AUSTRALIA), BORAL LIMITED – ASX BLD, WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, HIGH COURT OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION, BANK FOR INTERNATIONAL SETTLEMENTS. BASEL COMMITTEE ON BANKING SUPERVISION

Growers grumpy over hidden fees as Woolies makes us eat our vegies

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Original article by Blair Speedy
The Australian – Page: 17 : 31-Jul-14

Scott Davidson, head of produce at Woolworths, says the recent fresh food promotion featuring celebrity cook Jamie Oliver lifted sales in the category by 7% per customer and store visit. Over the six-week period in June and July 2014 the supermarkets chain says it sold an extra four million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables. However AusVeg, the lobbying body for the producers, says many are unhappy at having had to contribute $A0.40 a crate to the cost of the marketing push

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS LIMITED – ASX WOW, AUS VEG