RETAIL TRADE – AUSTRALIA

Retail king Harvey says: ‘I’m never going to retire’

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Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 2-Sep-19

Harvey Norman chairman Gerry Harvey says the company recorded three per cent growth in same-stores sales during the first two months of 2019-20. The furniture and consumer electronics retailer’s pre-tax net profit for 2018-19 was 8.4 per cent higher than previously, at $574.56m. Meanwhile, Harvey has ruled out retirement, despite approaching his 80th birthday.

CORPORATES
HARVEY NORMAN HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX HVN

Woolies thrives but Banducci stays cautious

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 30-Aug-19

Groceries and liquor giant Woolworths Group has posted a 2018-19 net profit of $2.693bn, which is 56.1 per cent higher than previously. Its profit from continuing operations was down per cent at $1.49bn following the sale of its petrol division, but group sales rose 5.3 per cent to $59.98bn. Woolworths’ core Australian supermarkets division recorded earnings and sales growth of 5.7 per cent and 5.3 per cent respectively. Big W’s sales were 6.5 per cent higher, although the discount department store chain posted an EBIT loss of $85m.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, ENDEAVOUR DRINKS, DAN MURPHY’S, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL

Foodland celebrates 12 months at top of supermarket satisfaction ratings but supermarket customer satisfaction is in decline

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 27-Aug-19

Foodland has secured its 12th straight Roy Morgan Supermarket of the Month Award with a customer satisfaction rating of 86% for July 2019. Foodland has now won 19 of the past 20 monthly awards. Foodland was followed by Aldi (83%), Coles (82%), Woolworths (81%) and IGA (80%). Foodland and Aldi have now held the top two positions since February 2017. Despite their ongoing success, the overall customer satisfaction ratings for all five leading supermarkets have declined significantly from a year ago. Both Aldi and Woolworths have recorded the largest decline (-10%). Foodland has also recorded the highest customer satisfaction rating for fresh fruit (84%), bread (81%), fresh vegetables (82%) and delicatessen (78%). Aldi performed the best in dairy (85%) and meat (74%), whereas Woolworths secured the highest customer satisfaction for seafood (51%). These are the latest findings from the Roy Morgan Single Source survey, derived from in-depth face-to-face interviews with 1,000 Australians each week and over 50,000 each year.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, FOODLAND AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOLWORTHS SUPERMARKETS, IGA

Coles boss bullish as online sales hit $1bn

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 : 23-Aug-19

Grocery and liquor retailer Coles Group has posted a 2018-19 net profit of $1.434bn, which is 9.1 per cent lower than previously. Earnings from continuing operations were down 8.1 per cent at $1.325bn, and sales fell 1.7 per cent to $38.46bn. Coles’ online sales increased by 30 per cent to $1.1bn, and the division was profitable for the first time in 2018-19. Shareholders will receive a final dividend of $0.24 per share, plus a special dividend of $0.115 a share.

CORPORATES
COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, COLES ONLINE PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, VINTAGE CELLARS (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, LIQUORLAND (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, FIRST CHOICE LIQUOR SUPERSTORE, WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, GOLDMAN SACHS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Recession – what recession? asks Amazon

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 19 : 6-Aug-19

Rocco Braeuniger, Amazon’s country manager for Australia, says he has not seen any indication that the retail sector is in the poor state that some retailers and media commentators have claimed. He was speaking at the launch of a new Amazon service called Launchpad, which aims to help start-ups and small businesses that want sell their products via Amazon. A spokesperson for David Jones’s parent company Woolworths Holdings recently claimed that the retail sector is in a recession.

CORPORATES
AMAZON.COM INCORPORATED, DAVID JONES LIMITED, WOOLWORTHS HOLDINGS LIMITED

Retailers hope tax-cut cheques will fuel spending spree

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Original article by Rosie Lewis, Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 2 : 11-Jul-19

More than 970,000 people have lodged their annual tax return with the Australian Taxation Office since 1 July. Retailers are optimistic that the federal government’s tax cuts will have a similar stimulatory effect on the sector as the one-off payment made by Labor in 2009. Russell Zimmerman of the Australian Retailers Association says the tax cuts will allow struggling consumers to buy items such as new electrical appliances and clothing.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, AUSTRALIAN RETAILERS ASSOCIATION, NATIONAL RETAIL ASSOCIATION LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN LABOR PARTY, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, WESTPAC BANKING CORPORATION – ASX WBC, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE. INSTITUTE OF APPLIED ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RESEARCH, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

Retailers bask in a little ray of sunshine

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Original article by Tim Boyd, Patrick Durkin
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 7 : 5-Jul-19

Carpet Court CEO James Hayward predicts that the $1,080 tax rebate that most low and middle income earners will receive in the next few months will provide a similar boost to the economy as Kevin Rudd’s 2009 stimulus package. That package saw around 10 million Australians receive $900. His comments are echoed by MYOB CEO Tim Reed, who notes that low and middle income earners have a "high propensity to spend".

CORPORATES
CARPET COURT AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MYOB GROUP LIMITED, KOGAN.COM LIMITED – ASX KGN, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA

Woolies gives up liquor and gambling

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Original article by Sue Mitchell
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 18 : 4-Jul-19

Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci says the retail giant has been working on the proposed demerger of its liquor and hotels business for more than a year. Endeavour Group will be created via the merger of pubs and poker machines operator ALH Group and Endeavour Drinks, which owns the Dan Murphy’s and BSW liquor chains. Woolworths plans to divest Endeavour Group via a demerger, trade sale or IPO in 2020 and retain a minority stake. Woolworths has attracted criticism over its exposure to poker machines, but Banducci stresses that this was not a driver of the demerger proposal.

CORPORATES
WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, ENDEAVOUR GROUP, ALH GROUP LIMITED, DAN MURPHY’S, BWS – BEER WINE SPIRITS, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, ABERDEEN ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, LANGTON’S, CELLARMASTER WINES PTY LTD, PINNACLE DRINKS, THE MATHIESON GROUP PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, THE QUANTIUM GROUP PTY LTD

Retail the weakest part of the economy, RBA warns

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Original article by Eli Greenblat
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 24-Jun-19

The Reserve Bank of Australia has released a report which highlights the tough trading environment for the retail sector. The central bank’s June bulletin notes that retailers’ profit margins are being hit by price competition, while profitability in the sector may be at risk if retailers seek to boost market share by selling products at a loss. The net margins of food retailers have fallen below five per cent, compared with more than seven per cent in 2009. There has also been a sharp decline in the net margins of non-food retailers over this period.

CORPORATES
RESERVE BANK OF AUSTRALIA, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD, COSTCO WHOLESALE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ZARA, UNIQLO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Harris Scarfe highest for discount department store satisfaction

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 24-Jun-19

New research from Roy Morgan shows that Harris Scarfe is Australia’s leading discount department store, with a customer satisfaction rating of 90.1%, ahead of Kmart on 88.9% and Best & Less on 88.7%. The biggest improvement over the year to April came from Harris Scarfe (up 6.9% points). The other improvers were Best & Less (up 4.1% points), Big W (up 2.1% points), Costco (up 1.5% points) and Kmart (up 0.8% points). These are the latest results from Roy Morgan’s Discount Department Store Satisfaction Report, which is based on in-depth personal interviews conducted face-to-face with over 50,000 Australians per annum in their own homes, including over 9,000 interviews with people who shop at a discount department store in an average four weeks.

CORPORATES
ROY MORGAN LIMITED, HARRIS SCARFE HOLDINGS LIMITED, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BEST AND LESS PTY LTD, BIG W DISCOUNT STORES, COSTCO WHOLESALE AUSTRALIA PTY LTD