Woolies looking forward to Christmas

Woolworths said today it was confident about its Christmas performance despite seeing rain dampen sales of garden furniture and clothing this summer.

Woolies, which has revived its fortunes over the last 18 months, said entertainment and electrical products drove sales forward during the first half of its financial year, although seasonal products came under pressure.

Pre-tax losses narrowed by 5.5% to £34.4m (€50.5m) while same-store sales were 0.5% higher at the retailer’s high street stores in the 26 weeks to July 31, although this compared with a 1% hike announced in a trading statement in July.

The chain said improved planning and a better range of products left it confident about the festive period, which is traditionally its busiest time of year.

Woolies said the results for the quieter first half of the financial year demonstrated solid progress across all areas of the group, but added that trading in the first five weeks of the second half had been “mixed”.

The group said: “As ever, the key trading period will be Christmas. Building on our past experience, our plans are well advanced and with an improved product offer and a strong promotional platform, we move into Christmas with confidence.”

Woolies, which employs 35,000 staff across 827 stores, has been battling to turn the business around and improve sales after sliding more than £46m (€67.5m) into the red nearly three years ago.

The company is in the early stages of a store refurbishment programme and said today that 40 stores were now trading in the new format and a further 19 will be refitted by the end of September. Plans are in place for another 75 sites to be refitted next year.

The group said earlier this year that it would end the expansion of its 21-strong chain of out-of-town Big W stores, which grew like-for-like sales by 0.4% during the period.

It said good progress was being made in a review set up to decide whether to dispose of the chain or reduce the size of its stores.