This Month
Rear Window’s year in review: scoops, scandals, and power plays
This week on The Fin podcast, Rear Window editor Myriam Robin on the megalomaniac trying to solve Australia’s housing crisis, the column’s scoop of the year and the Clubland rebellion.
Exploration drillers tighten belts as boom fades
Spending on mineral exploration is sliding and inflationary pressures mean each dollar delivers fewer metres drilled. But AI and data analysis might save the day.
- Peter Ker
November
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The moment the ACCC boss put the heat on Woolies
The competition regulator is clearly sceptical about the way the supermarket giants use discounts, and whether the market is really competitive.
- James Thomson
October
Brad Banducci starts his post-Woolworths life
The former supermarket CEO was spotted at Sydney’s Opera House this week.
- Mark Di Stefano
August
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Banducci’s last Woolies profit is his worst misstep and finest moment
CEO Brad Banducci leaves the retail giant in a difficult spot. But the strategic decisions he’s made can drive the group’s turnaround.
- Updated
- James Thomson
- Updated
- Earnings season
Woolworths loses ground to Coles after tumultuous year
The major retailer recorded a slight fall in underlying profit, which were all but wiped out by a big write-down in its New Zealand business.
- Updated
- Carrie LaFrenz
July
Woolworths in leadership limbo after exec becomes Ramsay CEO
After missing out on the CEO role at the retailer, Natalie Davis will take over from long-serving Ramsay boss Craig McNally who will step down next year.
- Carrie LaFrenz
May
Woolworths faces widening gulf with Coles in sales stakes
Brad Banducci, the departing chief executive of supermarket giant Woolworths, is losing the battle with arch-rival Coles as he prepares to bow out in September.
- Updated
- Simon Evans
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Woolies’ reputational crisis has cost it $8b and counting
The supermarket giant has aggressively brought down prices, but its sales are growing far more slowly than its great rival. That’s a serious problem.
- James Thomson
NAB’s ‘astonishing’ number; Woolies’ warning; Fed’s ‘confidence’ trick
Read everything that’s happened in the news so far today.
April
Why the RBA won’t cut rates soon; Supermarket stoush; Misguided push for Australian made
This week, James and editor-in-chief Michael Stutchbury discuss the data the RBA will be mulling, examine how the supermarket inquiry turned nasty, and ask whether the Made in Australia push is doomed.
Super growers take on Woolies, Coles with private equity cash
Giant pension funds from Canada, Singapore and US private equity are behind super producers who account for half the $9.1 billion fruit and vegetable market. Bigger is better, and Australia is mirroring a global trend.
- Simon Evans and Carrie LaFrenz
- Opinion
- Government Observed
The Senate’s mock outrage games shame all
Threatening corporate leaders with jail time over an accounting contrivance is part of a trend where the national parliament is becoming a theatre for showboating and mock outrage.
- Tom Burton
Nick McKim’s Senate antics make it all worse
This is all entirely on brand for McKim, a man eternally promoting simple, populist solutions to complicated problems.
- Myriam Robin
Balance sheet quirks skew supermarket returns measures: MST Marquee
The concept became a political football this week after it was used by Greens senator Nick McKim to accuse Woolworths and Coles of “making off like bandits”.
- Tom Richardson
Attack on Banducci financially illiterate
Readers’ letters on the clash between Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci and Greens senator Nick McKim; violence in Sydney; fixed parliamentary terms; and manufacturing in Australia
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
After Woolies brawls, Coles busts supermarket profit myths
Political theatre and business bashing won’t deliver a magic bullet for bringing down grocery prices - because there isn’t one.
- Updated
- James Thomson
12 big players dominate fruit and vegetable supplies
12 suppliers make up half of the total value of all fruit and vegetables sold in Woolies; Coles paid its staff $5 billion in wages last year; Woolworths boss threatened with jail. How the day unfolded.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
The Senate cage match that saw Woolies CEO threatened with jail
Brad Banducci and Greens senator Nick McKim played a brutal game of verbal tennis over Woolworths’ profitability.
- James Thomson
- Updated
- Supermarket inquiry
Woolworths, Greens in fiery clash on profits
Outgoing Woolworths boss Brad Banducci was threatened with six months in jail for contempt of the Senate, in a fiery Senate hearing that went off the rails on Tuesday.
- Carrie LaFrenz and Tom McIlroy