Tough times for Woolworths in Australia, but SA food business continues to thrive

Stephen Grootes is joined by Woolworths Holdings CEO Roy Bagattini on The Money Show.

Woolworths Holdings has slashed its final dividend by over 30% for the year to end-June 2025 compared to the prior period, amid 'challenging  macroeconomic conditions' in Australia and South Africa.

The Group reported a 23.9% decline in full-year headline earnings, due to a weaker-than-expected performance from its struggling Australian clothing chain Country Road.

Headline earnings per share (HEPS) fell to 268.1 cents a share, a decrease of almost 24%.

Still, Group turnover and concession sales increased by 6.1% and by 6.8% on a constant currency basis, and by 6.4% and 7.3% in the comparable second half of the financial year respectively.

In South Africa, Woolworths saw strong turnover and concession sales growth of 9.4% for the full year, and 9.8% in the second half. 

Its SA food business continued to shine, with sales growing by 9.2%. Sales growth in the second half of the year was 10.6%.

Fashion, beauty and home sales were up 4.7% on improved product availability.

Woolworths declared a final dividend of 81 cents per share, down 31.1% from the prior year.

Group CEO Roy Bagattini says the pleasing overall performance of their food business in South Africa reflects the strength of, and trust in their brand.

"I think it's also the investments we're making year after year, particularly in the things that differentiate us - the quality, the innovation, the in-store experience and so on."

Roy Bagattini, CEO - Woolworths Holdings

"We've also invested quite heavily in price impact over the last couple of years - almost R1 billion, to obviously make certain product categories more accessible."

Roy Bagattini, CEO - Woolworths Holdings

All this translates into more customers coming in to their stores, as well as bigger baskets, Bagattini affirms.

"That drives the share gains we're seeing, and in fact we've delivered the strongest like-for-like sales in the sector, again... and we're expecting that to continue."

.Roy Bagattini, CEO - Woolworths Holdings

Scroll up to the audio player to hear more from the Woolworths group CEO.