Woolworths chair Scott Perkins defends profits amid supermarkets probe

The retail heavyweight is ‘looking forward’ to putting its case to the ACCC on the competitive market dynamics in the grocery sector, chairman Scott Perkins says.

Woolworths chair Scott Perkins has defended the retailer’s profits amid accusations of price gouging. Picture: Britta Campion/The Australian

Woolworths chair Scott Perkins says the retailer is “looking forward” to putting its case to the ACCC on the competitive market dynamics in the grocery sector, as he defended the billion-dollar profits at the nation’s biggest retailer.

Speaking at a superannuation conference in Melbourne on Thursday, Mr Perkins added that he would welcome regulatory change to the voluntary Food and Grocery Code of Conduct.

“We’re now in a world where we’re under increasing scrutiny by everybody. Some of that scrutiny needs a little bit of evidence based and (with) the ACCC and the various committees that are investigating issues of market concentration (and) pricing, we look forward to putting forward our case on supermarket competition,” he told the audience.

“In 2008, Aldi had 180 stores, today they have 600. Amazon wasn’t around then, Costco wasn’t around then … so we look forward to making our case and the ACCC considering that (view),” Mr Perkins said.

The Albanese government in February directed the ACCC to launch an inquiry into pricing and competition in the booming supermarket sector, amid accusations of price gouging during a cost-of-living crisis.

The competition regulator in recent weeks said it had seen a strong uptick in complaints from consumers about supermarkets and high prices, as well as allegations of “misleading was/now advertising” of prices on food and groceries.

But Mr Perkins defended the retailer, saying it was balancing competing interests and that strong profits were nothing to apologise for.

“Our duty is to act in the best interests of the corporation … that requires us to think more broadly than just customers, or just the community,” he said.

“It’s now really well understood that when you get the balance of that flywheel right, it works in favour for everyone. You get longer-term customer lifetime value, more engaged people.

Attending to the right balance of that flywheel is what we’ve been doing for some time,” he told the audience.

Mr Perkins was defiant as he addressed the criticisms surrounding Woolworths’ hefty profits.

“We need to stand up to shareholders and the community and say well actually the fact that Woolies is a profitable company, the fact that we think we probably have the world’s leading digital and ecommerce capability is something to be proud of and not something to be apologetic for.”

The retailer last month posted half-year profits of just under $1bn for the six months through to December 31.

Speaking on the various inquiries probing the supermarket giants, he pointed to the potential for regulatory change.

“There will always be something that we can learn from. I really don’t know where the ball’s going to bounce (on regulatory change), we’ve got submissions in respect of the grocery code of conduct and would welcome change of regulation there. “Nobody’s perfect and we’ll learn from it. In terms of the core questions being asked, I think we have a clear perspective (on our view)... I think there could well be regulatory change in terms of the grocery code of conduct. In terms of broader competition (regulatory changes) I’m not sure.”

Originally published as Woolworths chair Scott Perkins defends profits amid supermarkets probe