South African food and clothing retailer Woolworths Holdings posted an 18.1% increase in pre-tax profit but warned trading would be difficult for the rest of its financial year.
Go deeper with GlobalData
Discover B2B Marketing That Performs
Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.
Profit before tax and exceptional items reached ZAR878.3m (US$88m), with improved earnings from apparel business Country Road and one-off benefits arising from the sale of a portion of the group’s financial services business.
Group retail turnover grew by 8.1% for the twenty-six weeks to December 2008 to reach ZAR10.55bn, reflecting the further slow-down in consumer spending, particularly in the middle- and upper-income consumer brackets.
Food sales were up 9.5% for the period. Woolworths said its average food price inflation of 12.1% is “well below the average” market inflation.
“The economy is to remain depressed. Despite the relief from recent fuel price cuts and a reduction in the interest rates, we expect trade to remain difficult through the rest of the financial year,” the company said.
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 GlobalDataOperating profit increased 6.1% for the period to reach ZAR1.04bn.
Woolworths said the disposal of a controlling interest in its financial services division impacted the comparability of group revenue, expenses and finance costs.
Adjusted headline earnings per share, excluding a ZAR75m STC charge on the special dividend paid on 15 December, increased by 26.9% to 72.2 cents per share.
