Endeavour Drinks Group (EDG) has delivered a 4.3 per cent sales increase to $7913m in the 2017 financial year, the group reported today.
The figures were part of the overall Woolworths Limited results for FY17, with EDG now reporting its separate figures within the report.
The overall sales growth was helped by a strong contribution from new store openings and both the Woolworths retail banners, Dan Murphy’s and BWS reporting comparable sales growth.
Woolworths CEO, Brad Banducci, said: “Endeavour Drinks delivered strong results in a competitive market. Dan Murphy’s and BWS both delivered positive comparable sales growth. Online remained a key area of focus during the year with Dan Murphy’s online achieving growth of approximately 25 per cent a highlight.”
Dan Murphy’s saw 12 net new store openings over the financial year and as well as the strong online growth the My Dan Murphy’s membership scheme has grown to 2.4m members.
For BWS the total store network is now 1298 with 19 net new store openings in FY17. EDG highlighted the launch of its one-hour Click & Collect service and that there is currently a fast delivery trial underway in around 50 stores.
The Woolworths ALH Hotels business also saw sales increase, up 2.7 per cent on the previous year to $1.6bn, which the group said was driven by bars, food and accommodation.
The group added: “We completed a number of key refurbishments in FY17 at venues across the network. Our Hotels also form an important part of our drinks strategy, with a number of BWS and Dan Murphy’s stores attached to hotel sites.”
For the group EBIT was up 3.9 per cent to $502.5m, although there was a 33bps drop in gross margin to 23.1 per cent, which the group said was due to “the negative category mix with beer and spirits outgrowing wine as well as targeted price investments”.
Overall Woolworths put last year’s Masters-driven loss behind it to post a full-year profit of $1.5bn, with a 3.7 per cent rise in sales to $55.5bn.
Banducci added: “We are pleased with the progress we made in FY17 and are excited about our ability to further improve our business and customer and team experiences in FY18 as we move from a turnaround phase, focused on fixing our business foundations, to a transformation phase, focused on leveraging team work, digital and insights to materially improve our business.”
He added: “The focus of the Woolworths Group in FY18 will continue to be on our five key priorities. Our emphasis is moving from fixing the basics to leveraging team work, digital and insights to transform core business processes and improve the customer experience while sustainably reducing CODB. In the first half, we have a particular focus on improved team scheduling (right team member, right hours, right day), on-shelf availability and the roll-out of Store Pick up (for online orders).”