{"id":88558,"date":"1999-12-31T00:40:00","date_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/smartoffice.com.au\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/"},"modified":"1999-12-31T00:40:00","modified_gmt":"1999-12-30T13:40:00","slug":"dick-smith-drags-woolies-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/","title":{"rendered":"Dick Smith Drags Woolies Down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Woolworths feels the pinch as consumer electronics continues to slide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Click to enlarge<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Woolworth’s latest H2 2011 results, just announced, reveal net profit fall of 16.8% due to discontinued operations and $300 million provison it was forced to make for the divesting of Dick Smith, it said today. <\/p>\n

In January last, Woolies said it would sell off its Dick Smith electronics operation, and would close over 25% of its stores immediately here and New Zealand due to poor performance. <\/p>\n

As a result of the divestment, Consumer Electronics division has been disclosed as a ‘discontinued operation’, forcing it to make $300m provision and dragging earnings for H2 down for the Woolworth’s group. <\/p>\n

Dick Smith sales increased just 0.7% for the half year to December, a disappointing result in what should be one of its busiest trading period including Christmas, although comparable store sales did increase 2.4%. <\/p>\n

However, Woolies said sales for second quarter were “pleasing” given that consumer electronics continues to be impacted by the poor trading environment, price competition and price deflation in key products. <\/p>\n

The new format DS stores, which now account for 74% of all stores also continue to outperform older format stores and enjoyed sales growth of 8.7%, which could read as a sales pitch to any potential buyer. <\/p>\n

The process of getting rid of its electonics business is now underway and a “number of potential purchasers have expressed interest,” Woolworths Group said today.<\/p>\n

Read: Woolies Give Dick Smith The Boot <\/a><\/p>\n

Apart from electronics, Woolies’ other businesses are booming as total sales grew 5.2% to $ 28.9bn. Food and Liquor sales for the half-year were $19.6 billion – an increase of 4.3% on last year.<\/p>\n

Earnings before tax grew 4.1% from continuing operations (total Group EBITDA before Consumer Electronics $300m provision was up 3.9%). <\/p>\n

Net profits from Woolworths’ ‘continuing’ group operations including food, liquor and home improvement divisions which also grew to $1.1bn – up 3.1%, before consumer electronics was taken into account, the supermarket giant said. <\/p>\n

Consumer Electronics’ New Zealand sales increased 2.2% for the half year and comparable sales increased 6.5%, which it said was “strong” given New Zealand challenging macroeconomic environment and significant price deflation. <\/p>\n

Sales for BIG W, however, fell 1.3% for the half year to $2.4 billion. Comparable sales fell 2.8%, compared to a decrease of  4.2% in H1. <\/p>\n

Customer numbers and items sold increased during the second quarter (Oct-Dec period) although price deflation continued, averaging 5% and was most evident in Home Entertainment and Toys categories, the giant confirmed. <\/p>\n

“Trading over the Christmas was pleasing with positive customer and unit growth in December offset by deflation resulting in lower average basket sizes.”  <\/p>\n

Strong results were achieved in DVDs, Books, Toys, Sporting categories whilst cooler weather in December had a “modest” effect on apparel and outdoor categories.<\/p>\n

 <\/div>\n

Earnings at the discount store fell 4.3% to $119.6m, however Woollies said the result for the second quarter was pleasing and showed positive growth, compared to 2010. <\/p>\n

“Woolworths Limited today reported an increase in net profit after tax from continuing operations of 3.2%. It was also pleasing to achieve an increase in our trading result of 5.6% before central overheads and our investment in Home Improvement,” said Woolworths Chief Executive Officer, Grant O’Brien. <\/p>\n

“This is a sound result considering subdued consumer confidence,deflationary pressures and the significant investment we are making in the business in line with ourstrategic priorities for growth.”<\/p>\n

Woolies also announced a 3.5% increase in fully franked interim dividend to 59 cents per share.<\/p>\n

Currently there are 386 Dick Smith stores between Australia and New Zealand. In January Woolworths will close up to 100 of these stores before the sale over two years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Woolworths feels the pinch as consumer electronics continues to slide.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":41,"featured_media":93308,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"gallery","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-gallery","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archive","category-hardware","post_format-post-format-gallery"],"yoast_head":"\nDick Smith Drags Woolies Down - Smart Office<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dick Smith Drags Woolies Down - Smart Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Woolworths feels the pinch as consumer electronics continues to slide.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Office\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"1999-12-30T13:40:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Oonagh Reidy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Oonagh Reidy\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Oonagh Reidy\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/#\/schema\/person\/15e890b46095d075b43fe7ecb12341ae\"},\"headline\":\"Dick Smith Drags Woolies Down\",\"datePublished\":\"1999-12-30T13:40:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\"},\"wordCount\":592,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"\",\"articleSection\":[\"Archive\",\"Hardware\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/staging.strixdevelopment.net\/smartoffice\/1999\/12\/31\/dick-smith-drags-woolies-down\/\",\"name\":\"Dick Smith Drags Woolies Down - 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