Endeavour Group’s FY24 half-year results demonstrate the resilience of the company, according to Managing Director and CEO Steve Donohue.
“Group sales grew by 2.5% to $6.7 billion, with Dan Murphy’s and BWS both driving increased retail sales, and an improved food and bar offering delivering growth in hotels sales,” he says.
“Group EBIT increased to $661 million, benefiting from our disciplined focus on cost optimisation, including $53million in savings from our endeavourGo program, and gross margin management.”
Looking at Endeavour’s retail offering, Mr Donohue says Dan Murphy’s “strengthened its position” as Australia’s preferred drinks destination for events through the festive season, with customers continuing to respond to the retailer’s “great” range and Lowest Liquor Price Guarantee.
“We also opened four new large format stores in the half, taking our popular offer to even more customers,” he says.
“We continue to report market-leading customer metrics and our My Dan’s membership program now has 5.4 million active members, with record high customer engagement.”
BWS also performed “strongly” through the half, says Mr Donohue, with engagement with the younger adult demographic benefiting from the launch of the retailer’s new brand campaign and innovation in stores.
“We reinforced value for customers through BWS’ ‘A Win’s a Win’ campaign and expanded our online shopping reach with a range of new delivery options,” he says.
“With 1447 stores servicing communities around the country, including 12 net new stores opened in the half, BWS offers Australia’s most convenient liquor store network.”
Outlook
Trading activity in retail was broadly flat in the first seven weeks of H2, up 0.3%.
This reflected subdued sales in January, followed by an improved start to February, which saw sales growth of 1.5% over the first three weeks.
“Current trading reflects a similar experience during H1, where we dynamically responded to changing customer spending patterns by refocusing promotional activity to support sales and EBIT momentum,” says Endeavour.
“Strong customer advocacy and our leading position on price and value underpins our performance through the economic cycle. We continue to monitor customer dynamics closely, making adjustments to meet changing preferences for value, range and quality, through Australia’s largest offering of products and hospitality experiences with the broadest customer reach.
“The structural resilience of the Group, high cash generation and strong balance sheet, position us well to balance short and longer-term objectives. We’ll continue to focus on performance optimisation, including disciplined cost and investment management while delivering against our Strategy Scorecard, targeting 10%+ return to shareholders from FY26.”