Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci says grocer gaining steam

RETAIL heavyweight Woolworths says it is happy to ­provide investors with quarterly sales updates and will not follow rival Wesfarmers if that retailer drops them.

Woolworths chief executive Brad Banducci. Picture: AAP

RETAIL heavyweight Woolworths says it is happy to ­provide investors with quarterly sales updates and will not follow rival Wesfarmers if that retailer drops them.

WOOLWORTHS EXTENDS LEAD OVER COLES AS FOOD SALES SURGE

Woolworths chief Brad Banducci on Tuesday said quarterly reporting provided the nation’s biggest supermarket chain with “good discipline”.

Mr Banducci was speaking as he handed down a set of numbers showing the group’s namesake grocery chain easily outpaced key rival Coles, owned by Wesfarmers.

Food sales at Woolworths core Australian supermarkets business rose 4.7 per cent to $9.6 billion for the 14 weeks to October 1, its first update for the financial year showed.

The closely watched like-for-like sales, which strip out the impact of stores opening and closing, rose 4.9 per cent.

Macca’s perspective.

Woolworth’s loss-making Big W business is also showing signs of improvement, with sales rising 2.5 per cent to $890 million — its first positive sales growth in more than a year.

Coles last week reported like-for-like food sales growth for the quarter of 0.3 per cent — its lowest rate of growth since Wesfarmers bought the business a decade ago.

Incoming Wesfarmers chief Rod Scott said the retail giant was considering moving to a six-month reporting calendar, saying the quarterly results were a “distraction”.

Mr Banducci on Tuesday said he was comfortable providing investors with an update every three months, noting he looked at the Woolworths sales numbers at 5.45am every day.

UBS analyst Ben Gilbert said: “(The) market will be pleased by continued like-for-like momentum in food and Big W like-for-like turnaround.”

Woolworths shares climbed 2.3 per cent on Tuesday to $25.88.

[e-mail]