Written off by sector rivals as a dead loss following a 30% profit slump last
year, Britain’s fourth largest supermarket group, Safeway, has today
(23 November) posted strong H1 pre-tax profits of £166m, up 10% on last
year despite, or perhaps because of, a substantial investment in the new commercial
strategy aimed to turnaround the store’s fortunes. Since 1999, operating profit
also increased 11% to £208m, reflecting a well-managed cost base and a
discount-focused sales drive.
One million more customers are now regular visitors to the store, increasing
year-on-year sales by 5% and delivering H1 sales of £4,739m (in increase
of 8%), prompted an investment in staff training and the employment of an extra
6,000 staff. The group generated net cash of £38m during the period and
reduced net debt to £1,183m. For the stockholders, earning per share increased
by 13% to 11.8p and the dividend has been increased by 5% to 2.77p per share.
The Safeway board intends to recommend a comparable increase in the final dividend.
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Importantly, the group’s revival plan has increased its share of the highly
competitive UK supermarket trade by 0.2% to 9.7%. In Scotland, market leadership
was strengthened significantly, and in the key fresh food categories Safeway
gained share faster than rival retailers.
Didn’t it do well? The drive to increase sales
In the thirteen months since the accession of Carlos Criado-Perez as CEO, fresh
from leadership at discount retailer Wal-Mart, Safeway’s sales have increased
dramatically. The popularity of the store appears largely to be a result of
the somewhat Wal-Mart inspired discount drive, which saw deep-cut promotions
and in store prices fall by an average of 5.6%. Safeway also leaflet-dropped
9m homes weekly over the last year.
New distribution capacity was included to deal with the increased product volumes,
which guaranteed a 96% on-shelf availability of products. New merchandising
displays and the introduction of a “best” premium range of products
also prompted increased consumer interest.
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“Safeway has turned around”
Criado-Perez expressed his confidence in the group: “Safeway has turned
around and we are now laying the foundations for strong growth in our second
half and beyond. This next phase is on schedule and will deliver the new formats,
design innovations, ranges and services which, coupled with the faultless execution
of the four pillars of our strategy, are key to achieving Safeway’s full potential.”
Next stage for Safeway: a four model strategy
In this next stage towards this full potential, a four-model strategy has been
employed to segment the outlet portfolio into supermarkets, superstores, convenience
stores and, more recently, hypermarkets, where customers can take advantage
of services such as dry cleaning and photo processing.
Innovation with store design, fittings, lighting and layout is the main focus
of the group’s bid to create “an exciting store environment,” and
25 superstores will be upgraded over the next year, funded primarily by a broadly
balanced cash flow. The first new-design hypermarket will be open to customers
during the beginning of 2001 and Safeway also revealed its intention to continue
to develop the four pillars of its commercial strategy; “Product
and Price,” “Best at fresh,” “Best at availability,”
and “Best at customer service.”
The group is also planning to strengthen its position in Northern Ireland,
where its 12 stores made an operating profit for the first time this year. In
this area, Safeway has a comfortable 13% market share and this year witnessed
a 13% increase in like-for-like sales.
But is the growth sustainable?
Safeway’s next trading update is expected at the end of Q3, on 16 January 2001,
but growth comparisons are set to become tougher under the weight of expectation
piled on by Criado-Perez when he reiterated his commitment to restoring group
annual profits to the 1997 peak of £420m by 2002. Analysts remain sceptical
as to whether the current rate of growth within the company is sustainable.
Safeway PLC – Middlesex, England 6 Months Oct 14:
|
2000
|
1999
|
|
| Pretax Profit |
GBP166.1
mln |
GBP150
mln |
| Sales |
4.7
bln |
4.4
bln |
| Earnings Per Share |
11.8p
|
10.4p
|
| Dividend |
2.77p
|
2.64p
|
