By Andy Young
Endeavour Drinks Group (EDG) has increased its total sales by 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of its financial year, compared to the same period last year.
Comparable sales in the first 14 weeks of FY17 were also up, although by just 1.8 per cent. The increase reflects EDG’s investment in price and promotional activity across the first quarter, as well as strong seasonal campaigns and good weather.
EDG now reports its own performance within the overall Woolworths company results, with the first quarter results released at the end of last week.
In the statement to the ASX regarding the Woolworths result, the company said of EDG: “Our retail businesses, BWS and Dan Murphy’s delivered positive comparable growth in the quarter driven by strong Father’s Day promotional campaigns, AFL and NRL Finals promotional activity and generally favourable weather in July and August. Adverse weather, especially in South Australia, impacted trading in September.”
The company added: “The liquor market remained competitive with strong activity around key sporting events with continued investment in price and promotional activity to sustain market share growth. We experienced positive growth across both retail formats with Dan Murphy’s growth in beer and spirits the highlight.
“We opened three Dan Murphy’s stores during the quarter including our new Dan Murphy’s Wine Cellar in Prahan, Melbourne, bringing the total fleet size to 210. We opened nine BWS and closed five ending the quarter with 1283 stores.”
Overall Woolworths delivered one per cent total sales growth across the group, with the food division up 1.7 per cent on the same quarter last year.
Woolworths Group Chief Executive Officer, Brad Banducci, said: “We made good progress during the quarter on our five key priorities and are seeing more consistency in our trading performance in Australian Food.
“Customers continue to respond to the improvements we are making, with Australian Food delivering its first positive comparable sales growth since Q2’15, despite ongoing material price deflation. While we are pleased with our progress, there remains much more to do. Our trading performance over the key Christmas trading period is crucial to the financial performance of the Woolworths Group in FY17.”