Coles Myer überrascht mit einer Erhöhung der Gewinnprognose! - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[Seefunk]

Coles Myer surprises with earnings upgrade
Source: MELBOURNE, Aug 14 AAP
Published: Thursday August 14 2003, 6:15 PM

Investors embraced Coles Myer Ltd shares today as the retailer upgraded its profit forecasts for 2002/03 after robust fourth quarter sales.

Australia`s largest retailer booked a 6.1 per cent rise in sales for 2002/03 to $27 billion, with fourth quarter sales climbing a better than expected 7.4 per cent.

Coles Myer said it now expects its underlying net profit for the year to be around $445 million, beating earlier forecasts of $425-$435 million.

That sent shares in the retailer 17 cents or 2.4 per cent higher to $7.42 on volume of nearly five million. advertisement

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Coles Myer chief executive John Fletcher said the company`s strategy was starting to deliver real results.

"We`ve just completed the last quarter of this financial year and what a quarter it has been," Mr Fletcher said.

Fourth quarter sales shot up 7.4 per cent to $6.7 billion, ahead of the 5.9 per cent rate of growth in third quarter sales.

Competitor Woolworths Ltd reported fourth quarter sales rose 7.1 per cent after adjusting for Easter.

Coles Myer said its food and liquor sales climbed 6.3 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared to 4.2 per cent growth in the third quarter.

Sales for the food and liquor business rose 5.3 per cent to $16.5 billion forn 2002/03, despite the absence of Coles Myer`s fuel discount offer which only began three weeks ago.

The discount fuel program has been rolled out first in Victoria with 151 Shell service stations now offering four cents a litre off petrol with shopping dockets of $30 or more.

Mr Fletcher said the highlight of the fourth quarter was the commercial alliance with Shell.

"This is just the third week of what is a new business for us and way too early to be drawing any conclusions, suffice to say we are pleased with the customer response we are getting in the supermarkets and Coles Express," Mr Fletcher said.

"We have got the improving growth trend in our food and liquor group which continued in this quarter, despite the fact the fuel discount offer did not start until July."

Last week Mr Fletcher announced former United Kingdom supermarket executive Steven Cain would head up the food, liquor and fuel division when Alan Williams retires in October.

Mr Williams said the quarterly sales increase for the food and liquor business was a reflection of the early impacts of customer initiatives in price perception, fresh produce and house-brands.

He said sales also benefited from the continuing store expansion program, with 12 new supermarkets opening during the fourth quarter.

A total of 42 new supermarkets opened during the past 12 months which was well ahead of the planned 30-35 stores.

The Kmart and Officeworks group had a combined sales rise of 12.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, with full year sales rising 11.9 per cent.

After three quarters of negative growth, Myer Grace Bros and Megamart combined for a 5.1 per cent increase in sales in the fourth quarter but annual sales declined by 0.1 per cent.

Myer Grace managing director Dawn Robertson said her division had planned to report increased sales in the fourth quarter as part of the Myer Grace Bros turnaround and delivered on its strategy.

Sales at Target rose 7.1 per cent in the fourth quarter and 9.3 per cent in the full year.

"We are confident Target and Kmart have turned the corner," Mr Fletcher said.

"They have the right teams, the right merchandise, market and in-store offers in place which they will build further into 2004."

FW Holst retail analyst David Spry said today`s upgrade to earnings expectations for 2002/03 was positive providing the trend continued into the new year.

"(Mr Fletcher) appears happy with the way things are going," Mr Spry said.

"Structurally they seem to have the businesses fairly well positioned so from now it`s really a question of execution of strategies."

By Jeff Turnbull


Chart sieht gut aus:

[Seefunk]

Coles Myer shares gain further ground
Source: MELBOURNE, Aug 15 AAP
Published: Friday August 15 2003, 4:45 PM

Coles Myer Ltd shares reached a 15 month closing high today as investors continued showing their approval of yesterday`s robust fourth quarter sales results.

Shares in Australia`s largest retail firmed Coles Myer rose as high as $7.55 before closing four cents firmer at $7.46, adding to the 17 cents it picked up yesterday.

Coles Myer chief executive John Fletcher gave the market confidence when he upgraded expected full-year earnings by $10 million to $445 million.

Australia`s largest retailer booked a 6.1 per cent rise in sales for 2002/03 to $27 billion, with fourth quarter sales climbing a better than expected 7.4 per cent. advertisement

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Credit Suisse First Boston told clients the Coles Myer result was ahead of its expectations, particularly in the Myer Grace Bros (MGB) department stores, where a material improvement in sales performance was achieved.

It said the net profit upgrade reflected the group`s improved momentum.

CSFB said Coles Myer`s discount fuel alliance with Shell was "a potential gamble".

"We view the petrol move as a potential gamble, while the majority of the other initiatives seemingly imitate the competition rather than place Coles Myer in a more differentiated position," it said.

But CSFB said given Coles Myer`s improved results and earnings upgrade it had raised its 12-month target to $7.50 from $7.00 and lifted its rating to neutral from underperform.

David Errington of Merrill Lynch said strategies Coles Myer has undertaken in food including petrol, its "Fresh" and other promotions were creditable and would result in increased sales in future quarters.

"Overall, we view the Coles Myer sales performance to be satisfactory - at this point in time," Mr Errington said.

"The majority of businesses performed at, or slightly ahead of, our expectations and we were at the top end of market estimates."

Merrill Lynch maintained its current Buy recommendation.

By Jeff Turnbull

[FrontrunningInsider]

die 5 Euro könnten schon drin sein auf Sicht von 2-3 Monanten.


FrontrunningInsider

[Seefunk]

die Aktie hat mich auch ziemlich überrascht. Dass so ein riesiger Einzelhändler auf einmal so durchstarten kann...

[SmartBanking]

kleiner Rücksetzer?


SB

[Seefunk]

Coles Myer petrol deal failing to gain traction, says Lew camp
Source: MELBOURNE, Sept 10 AAP
Published: Wednesday September 10 2003, 5:45 PM

The camp of former Coles Myer Ltd director Solomon Lew, dumped from the board by shareholders last year, believes the fledging petrol discount offer is failing to gain traction.

A Lew source said Coles Myer paid $94 million for the goodwill of 584 Shell service stations which don`t make a profit.

Coles Myer hit back at the comments saying the Lew camp was wrong in its assessment of the progress of the fuel offer which has been rolled out in Victoria before going nationwide.

"We`re very happy with the roll-out of the fuel offer over the six weeks to date and we look forward to being able to brief the market at our profit announcement on September 19 on the positive effect on both fuel volumes and food liquor sales," a Coles Myer spokesman said. advertisement

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"We reiterate our previous statement that the combined impact of the new fuel and convenient store business will be earnings per share positive in financial year 2004."

The Lew spokesman said there was significant execution risk in the petrol deal.

"I don`t think anybody really thinks it has gained traction in terms of supermarkets, which is where it all stacks up - to get sufficient improvement in supermarket sales to cover the discount you are offering," he said.

He said while Woolworths Ltd had handed over control of its petrol outlets to people with a track record in the industry, Coles Myer has taken on the job of running their own service stations.

The Coles Myer spokesman said Coles Myer continued to be disappointed by Mr Lew and his spokesman`s persistent criticism of the "demonstrable progress" being made by the group.

Last month Coles Myer appointed former United Kingdom supermarket executive Steven Cain to head the food, liquor fuel division.

He is due to take up the role from October succeeding Alan Williams who is retiring.

Last month Coles Myer posted full year sales of $27 billion, up 6.1 per cent on the previous year.

Its fourth quarter sales rose 7.4 per cent to $6.703 billion, leading to the strong full year result and the upgrade in full year net profit expectations.

Coles Myer shares weakened seven cents to $7.28 today.

By Jeff Turnbull

[Seefunk]

Coles Myer puts the squeeze on suppliers
Source: MELBOURNE, Sept 15 AAP
Published: Monday September 15 2003, 5:15 PM

Australia`s biggest retailer Coles Myer Ltd is about to put the squeeze on its suppliers in a billion dollar effort to improve its supply chain and introduce just-in-time delivery of stock, according to analysts.

While big brands like Coca-Cola are likely to escape the tap on the shoulder, the vast majority of its suppliers will have little option but to toe the line, they believe.

Coles Myer is expected to unveil its new "get tough" supply chain and information technology policy to analysts on September 25.

Rival Woolworths Ltd is already forecasting savings from cost reduction strategies equal to one per cent of sales of around $260 million. advertisement

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One analyst said Coles Myer is putting huge pressure on suppliers as it looks to decrease the amount of inventory it holds in its warehouses and over the need for suppliers to align their IT with that of Coles Myer.

He said the big brand names such as Coca-Cola, whose product cannot easily be substituted, will probably escape the squeeze.

"But life will become difficult for those whose product can be substituted such as soaps, powders, toilet paper, even wine," said the analyst.

"It is such a fragmented market that Coles could support one supplier, give him all the volume, but take their share of it as well.

"If you are a favoured supplier you can do very well out of it."

He said the two major retailers are now in extremely powerful positions.

"We will see suppliers put greater focus on inventory and just-in-time management, which is no great surprise - everyone overseas is doing it," he said.

Another analyst said the amount of cost savings to be made depends on how it is measured.

"A lot of the time it is not true cost out, it is actually a lot of operating leverage, that is, not increasing costs while savings grow," he said.

"Whether you want to call it a cost saving is debatable but saving $1 billion in terms of efficiency, then it is more than possible."

Coles Myer was tightlipped today about the new strategy saying only that it looked forward to next week`s briefing.

On Friday, Coles Myer announces its full year results with the market keen to hear from chief executive John Fletcher on the progress of the fuel discount program that was launched after the end of the financial year.

The scheme, involving 584 Shell service stations, has been trialling in Victoria with the roll out to the rest of Australia to be completed by the mid-2004.

However, the consumer watchdog warned yesterday that it is looking closely at the scheme and the new alliance between Woolworths and Caltex.

Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chairman Graeme Samuel said the retailers` schemes could hurt independent operators and lead to high petrol prices.

"We are concerned at the whole dynamic of the petrol retail market in Australia at the moment and it`s something that we`re examining from a number of impacts," Mr Samuel told Channel Nine`s Business Sunday program.

Shares in Coles Myer were steady at $7.27.