Full Year 2024 Woolworths Holdings Ltd Earnings Call (Pre-Recorded) Transcript
Key Points
- Group sales were up over 4% for the year despite challenging macroeconomic conditions.
- The South Africa and Africa business grew sales by almost 7% and total profits ahead of inflation.
- The food business demonstrated strength and resilience, achieving the strongest organic growth in the sector.
- The acquisition of Absolute Pets has positioned Woolworths Holdings Ltd (JSE:WHL) as the pet care destination of choice in South Africa.
- The financial services business, WFS, saw a strong recovery in post-tax profits with growth of almost 70%.
- Earnings were down 12% from last year's record highs due to the tough trading environment.
- Sales growth in fashion, beauty, and home was behind expectations due to various factors including shipping delays and port congestion.
- International online retailers are significantly impacting the South African market.
- The Country Road Group in Australia faced disappointing performance with a double-digit decline in footfall.
- The cost of dissynergies from separating COG from DJs negatively impacted the group's bottom line.
Our 2024 financial year proved to be a lot more challenging than we'd expected, largely by virtue of the macro backdrop, which steadily worsened throughout the year across both our geographies, but particularly in Australia.
You've heard me say before that we don't like attributing our performance to the macro factors, but one way or another one cannot deny the broader environment has had a pronounced impact on our results for the period, particularly given the significant pressure we've seen on the consumer.
Against this tough backdrop, group sales were up over 4% for the year. As you'd expect, we've continued to focus on the high impact areas within our control, from inventory to GP margins, cost containment to driving cash conversion, and of course, executing against our strategies. But the tough trading environment was such that we've seen earnings down 12% of last year's record highs.
When we look at our overall South Africa and Africa business, we grew sales by almost 7% and total
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