Outgoing Wesfarmers Chairman Bob Every has stated the expanded firm is well situated to take advantage of future growth opportunities with a strong balance sheet backing the business.
Australian Food News reported that the move to grow as Wesfarmers achieved a net profit after tax of AUD$2.4 billion for the 2015 financial year. As a matter of fact, this was an underlying increase of 3.8 percent when excluding non-trading items and discounted operations.
Additionally, it came after Coles divulged shared food and liquor sales of AUD$7.6 billion for the first quarter of the 2016 financial year. In fact, it was a 4.7 percent increase on the previous corresponding period.
Bob even reflected during his last Annual General Meeting held Thursday, Nov. 12, 2015 that the successful position Wesfarmers has found itself in since acquiring the Coles Group in year 2007.
"The Coles turnaround story is now well known so I don't need to re-tell it, but I think it's fair to say the overwhelming majority of people now agree the decision was a right one," he said. "The company has executed the turnaround strategy well, and we are now more strongly positioned than ever."
Also, Wesfarmers Managing Director Richard Goyder used his AGM speech to discuss the strong start to the 2016 financial year Coles has experienced. It should be noted that growth specifics were not revealed.
"Coles has made a strong start to the 2016 financial year, reflecting the ongoing execution of Coles' value-led strategy, improvements to its fresh offer and the contributions from new and re-furbished stores," Richard revealed.
Bob also indicated that the other retail arms of Wesfarmers, especially OfficeWorks, Kmart and Bunnings, continue to produce positive results. "All of our retail businesses remain focused on delivering increased value, better service and improved ranges to customers with preparations for the Christmas trading period well progressed," Richard added on.
