By James Wells
The third quarter results from Endeavour Drinks Group shows a strong commitment to growth from the Victorian and Queensland markets, following a series of new store openings.
In information obtained by TheShout, over the three months ending 31 March, four BWS stores were opened and one store closed taking the total number to 1,295 stores.
The four new BWS stores were located at Literature Lane and Collins Square in Melbourne’s CBD as well as Cannon Hill in Brisbane and another site at Yeppoon in Central Queensland. Over the same period, the BWS store at Sunshine Plaza in western Melbourne closed its doors.
Over the same quarter, Dan Murphy’s increased its stores to 216 with a new opening at North Ryde in Sydney.
Within the financial results reported by Woolworths for the third quarter, Endeavour Drinks Group increased sales by 2.3 per cent to $1.9 billion compared to the prior year with comparable or like-for-like sales increasing by 0.8 per cent. With an adjustment made for Easter trading, which fell outside of this period in 2017, total sales increased by 3.9 per cent and comparable sales by 2.2 per cent
“Despite subdued market growth in the quarter, our key retail businesses, BWS and Dan Murphy’s, delivered positive Easter adjusted comparable growth in the quarter driven by strong execution around key events and a continued focus on competitive prices,” Woolworths said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
“As previously noted, the hot weather in January and early February positively impacted trading. However, very wet weather, particularly in NSW, resulted in weaker than expected sales growth in March,” the statement said.
Hotel sales for the quarter were $376 million, an increase of 2.2 per cent on the previous year or 1.9 per cent when adjusted for Easter trading. Comparable sales increased by 2.4 per cent or 1.9 per cent adjusted for Easter.
Woolworths said sales continued to be driven by strong growth in bars and accommodation.
Over the period, one venue was opened, taking the total number of hotels to 329.