In contrast to the criticism supermarket group Woolworths has garnered recently for its attempts to further narrow competition in the Australian grocery sector with the purchase of 80 Franklin’s stores, the international ratings agency Standard & Poor’s has commended the chain’s “very strong and highly defensible position.”
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
The agency further congratulated Woolworth’s well-executed retail strategy and assigned a A-rating. Executive Paul Draffin commented: “This very strong business profile mitigates its moderately aggressive financial policy, which is underpinned by its extensive use of operating leases to finance its store network, its shareholder-oriented capital management policies and its debt-funded acquisition and capital return program of up to A$1bn in the next two years.”
“Importantly, supermarket sales are largely recession resistant, which underpins Woolworth’s stable earnings performance,” he added.
In light of A&P’s comments, share in the company rose 27c to A$9.82.
US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?
Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.
By GlobalData
