Coles Group reached a two-year high in FY24, reporting an 8.2 per cent rise in earnings to $3.65 billion and a 4.4 per cent rise in revenue to $43.7 billion. Supermarket earnings rose 10.5 per cent to $3.5 billion and profit increased 8.3 per cent to $1.1 billion.
Supermarkets
- EBITDA: $39bn, up 6.2% on prior corresponding period (pcp);
- Gross retail sales: $40.3bn, up 5% pcp; and
- eCommerce sales: $3.7bn, up 2.8% pcp.
Liquor
- EBITDA: $3.7bn, up 2.3% pcp;
- Gross retail sales: $3.7bn, up 3.6% pcp; and
- eCommerce sales: $225m.
Group CEO, Leah Weckert, said FY24 saw the financial pressures on households top of mind, while the retailer also worked to improve supply and operations.
“We have worked hard to deliver improvements in availability and quality, made significant inroads in addressing loss, accelerated our digital offering, continued to maintain a strong focus on costs and completed the construction of our second ADC and both our CFCs,” Weckert said.
The group recorded strong eCommerce sales growth at 30 per cent for Supermarkets and nine per cent in Liquor on a normalised basis.
Its Simplify and Save to Invest program realised a $238 million benefit and 44 bps improvement in its loss rate in 2H24. Skip Scan loss technology was rolled out to 546 stores; Smart Gates installed in 326 stores and Bottom of Trolley technology used in 455 stores.
Weckert said its Automated Distribution Centre (ADC) and Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) programs reached key milestones with full ramp up of QLD ADC and construction of NSW ADC and both CFCs completed during the year. All facilities operational from July.
It also acquired two milk processing facilities and 20 liquor stores in Tasmania.
In product development, its Coles Kitchen Meals range now has more than 300 products and more than 1100 Exclusive to Coles and 244 Exclusive Liquor Brand products were launched in FY24.
Its Coles App monthly active users increased by 43 per cent and added new features for in-store shopping and eCommerce including launch of Coles Plus Saver membership subscription, digital receipts and shareable shopping lists.
Weckert said, “As we look ahead, we are well positioned to deliver on our strategic priorities. With our Kemps Creek ADC ramping up and our two automated CFCs in the process of transitioning orders from stores, we look forward to unlocking the full benefits of our transformation investments, including delivering further improvements in availability and efficiency through our ADCs and delivering a world-class customer experience for online orders.”
