Essay: Business Elements Achievements And Sustainability - Woolworths Report

About Woolworths Limited

Discuss about the Business Elements Achievements and Sustainability.

The following assessment would look into various segments of the company. During the report key areas is to be highlighted. The report is mainly focusing on the business and business elements of the company. Its achievements and the role in sustainability are also to be highlighted.  Woolworths is one of the largest retailer of foods and other products was founded on September, 22, 1924 by Percy Christmas, Stanley Chatterton, Cecil Scott Waine, George Creed, Ernest Williams having its headquarters are at Bella Vista, New South Wales, Australia and the area served by the company is Australia, New Zealand and India.

The main divisions are Supermarkets ( Woolworths, Countdown, Thomas Dux, Food for Less, Flemings, Petrol (Caltex Woolworths), Liquor(BWS, Dan Murphy’s), General Merchandise (Big W), Home Improvement( Masters), Hotels and Gambling(ALH Group). The Company is registered in Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) and the main area of functioning is in retailing mostly in large scale in Australia and New Zealand. Woolworths is the second largest company in Australia in terms of revenue after Perth based retails group Wesfarmers. It is also second largest in New Zealand and the largest takeaway liquor retailer in Australia and largest retailer in the world.  It is a public limited company (Woolworthslimited, Woolworths Supermarkets, 2016).

Woolworths opened its first store, the Woolworths Stupendous Bargain Basement, at Pitt Street, Sydney which is now Westfield Sydney on 5th December, 1924. The capital was Pound 25,000 and later on shares issued of 15,000 but only 11,707 shares were subscribed for by 29 people including five founding members. The Woolworths stores are extremely innovative and have the most detailed variety of foods and other edible products.  Christmas started a New Zealand operation with general merchandise on 1929 in Wellington area including the first food store in Auckland in 1956 and supermarkets in 1971 (ASX, 2016).

The company growth started to happen and the second store in Sydney and more stores in Perth, Brisbane in late 1920’s, Melbourne in 1933, Adelaide in 1936 . The World War II affected the growth story of Woolworth group. But despite all this the 200th store was opened in 1955 in Canberra. The company bought various retail chains like Edments Ltd., Rockmans chain of women’s clothing, Dick Smith Electronics chain, Tandy chain, etc. the key highlights of finanacial performance of the is as following;

Financial Performance

Sales excluded of petrol after 131 Caltex operated site exit was recorded at 2.5% growth although if petrol sales included then the total sales is dropping by 0.2% to $60.7 billion.

Gross profit increased to 27.5% as a percentage of sales after petrol exit and considering the higher margin products outweighing the gross profit margin drop in both New Zealand and Australian supermarkets due to lower price investment and introduction.

Earnings per share drop down to 195.2 cents by 0.7% while net profit after tax and before significant items and uncontrolled interests increased to 0.1% on the prior year.

The involvement of the net financing cost decreased by 0.2% on earlier years as a result of interest savings by repayment of high debt in part by lowering the capital bearing interest cost.

• Proper Capital management by restructuring entire capital setup for better capital cost management and interest on capital reduction.
• Proper debt financing so that fully hedged financed interest cost involved are managed rightly to reduce extra cost burden.
• Proper debt maturities are too managed in such a way as to highlight the loan facility in more transparent manner.

• To have better management on entire retail set up after the exit of electronics chain.
• To manage the business in better way by not taking up any business which can make loss in the gross business system like that of Petrol business with Caltex where huge loss was incurred due to 131 Caltex sites under Woolworths face value which ultimately affected the total business setup grossly.
• To take up or make new acquisitions in a very careful manner with profit motive in target.

• Long term shareholder values are given important and disciplined capital allocation and portfolio management is maintained.
• New introduction of the products of global repute in the stores like Honda mowers, Loctite adhesives, Sherwin-Williams Paints.
• Australian supermarket are taken care of by investing more than $200 million in lower prices for 9000 items to regain the market share in 2015 , 2nd half.
• All three format of liquor business of BWS, Dan Murphy’s and The Wine Quarter have performed superbly to keep the greater share.
• The lean retail model is developed against a target of $500 million by group wise transformation with real dollar cost in a low inflation stage.
• BIG W is to be placed for 80% growth out of non production inventory rolled out to 63 new stores and the online increased to product range to 28000 products.

The Chairman of Woolworths Limited Mr.Gordon Cairns who joined the Woolworths Board in September, 2015 have stated in the Annual Report of FY15 various issues which are significant for the company.

The points of discussion may be stated as below

$2.45 billion of Net Profit after tax but before significant items delivered.

Net profit after tax has increased by significant terms 0.1% on the last year to $2,453.3 million.

The net profit after tax and after significant items decreased by 12.5% to $2,146.0 million.

Group sales reached $60.7 billion which is a decrease by 0.2%.

Group sales excluding petrol reached $55.0 billion which is a increase by 2.5%.The Board increased a 1.5% of dividends per share to 139 cents for FY 2015 from 137 cents in FY 2014.

A very significant change has been made in the senior management team.

Lower employee incentive based remuneration, store operations efficiency with improved support functions helped to control to some extent the Cost of doing business which was affected by Woolworths and Caltex alliance limitation and subdued sales growth. The cost of business to sales increased 42 bps on last year to 21.3% due this limitation (Woolworthslimited, Annual Report, 2016).

The CEO and Managing Director Mr.Grant O’Brien who since October, 2011 served as CEO and the company for 28 years have informed the Board of his intention to step down from CEO and Managing Director position.

• A very extensive global search is being done to find the right replacement of Mr.Grant. Till such time Mr. Grant will continue to enrich the company.
• In February, 2015 Brad Banducci was appointed as the Managing Director of Food Group of Woolworths replacing Tjeerd Jegan.
• Brad is replaced as Managing Director of Liquor Group of Woolworths by Martin Smith, former General Manager of Dan Murphy’s.
• Dave Chambers was positioned as Director of Woolworths Supermarkets.
• Pat McEntee is positioned as Acting Managing Director of Progressive Enterprises in New Zealand.
• Alistair McGeorge, the Managing Director of BIGW left the company in August, 2015 and was replaced by Penny Winn.

The significant issues reported in FY 2015 by Managing Director Mr.Grant may be stated below

FY 2015, the profit to be returned to shareholders as dividends before significant items are 72% will be $1.8 billion.

Future Projection

By size the company is 30% larger than the nearest competitor in Australian market in liquor business.

For focus on fresh and shelf availability almost 56000 hours per week is reused in service in store format.

Liquor business is growing further and it has already is a global leader.

Woolworths is the Australia’s largest domestic online retailer.

ALH is Australia’s largest hotel chain operator.

Home timber and Hardware sales for FY15 increased by 20.9% to $937 million.

Masters sales for FY15 increased by 23.7% to $930 million.

Home Improvement sales for FY15 increased by 22.3% to $1.9 billion.

330 new refurbished hotels at 39 important venues during FY15.

Hotel sale for FY15 increased by 0.2% on earlier year to $ 1,475 million.

• 63 stores for new party category was introduced with another 67 planned in FY16.
• Total sales for FY15 decreased by 5.7% to $ 4.1 billion.
• Loyalty program for 900,000 members were launched as a part of Dan Murphy’s.
• 41 new Australian liquor stores opened in FY15.
• 30 new Australian supermarkets opened in Fy15.
• $200 million investment in lower prices benefited most of the food customers for variety of new cheaper products.
• $7.7 billion total liquor sales are an increase by 4.2%over last year.
• Operational management of stock at retail business may help competitors.
• Needs to improve computer network disturbance and system failures.
• Joint ventures needed to be rethinking before taking due to risk behaviour.
• High market competition is affecting new business hence to review.
• Future risks out of acquisitions and value depreciation due to such activities.
• Risk of non-compliance and legal and regulatory activities may affect business.
• A substantial decline in economic activities in Australia and New Zealand has greatly affected almost all business formats which are to be taken care of (Woolworthslimited, Reports, 2016).

Woolworths is a major Food and Staples retailer in Australian market. Woolworths is recognized as the Sustainability Leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices. This is a major achievement for the company in terms of sustainability. Globally and locally Woolworths has earned respect for the integrity towards corporate responsibility programs. Woolworths is diverse and complex industry and directly touching lives of millions. The goal of the company is to serve people with best choice, value for money and satisfaction. The company currently employs more than 2,00,000. Literally the company is leader in corporate responsibility and earned the respect over a period of time (Federation, 2016). The highlights of the achievements are listed below;

Earning trust and respect of customers are stakeholders are to be considered as the biggest achievements for the company. The company bus responsibly and source sustainably and ethically. The quality and the sustainability are paramount to the business. The business and the animal husbandry is important aspect of the business. Woolworths offer cage-free egg choices to its customers. The hens are housed indoors in barns and they lay eggs when nest boxes. The chicken meats produced and sold in the supermarkets are RSPCA approved or equivalent.  The company has achieved the goals it set for 2012 (Woolworthslimited, 2016).

• As responsible citizen it attained significant targets in 2012;
• The company has managed to reduce emission from its own trucks by 25%.
• The company has managed to reduce emission by 30% from the company car fleet.
• The baseline data for all tucks and cars are closely monitored.
• The company has increased use of hybrid powered trucks for home deliveries.
• The company has reduced water usage by 200 million liters by 2010.
• The supplier’s forums are created by the company for supply of sustainable packaging.
• The company is also practicing and complying with Environmental Code of Practice for Packaging (ECOPP).
• The company also reports about it packaging quality to Packaging Covenant (APC).
• PIQET assessments on meat trays, wine bottles are also conducted regularly.

The responsibility comes with source and supply of hygienic foods. This is the primary corporate responsibility of Woolworths. The company is aware of the packaging impact on the environment. The sustainability and preservation of environmental substances is the way for the future growth of the company. The organized food retailing is important for sustainability (Woolworths, 2016). 

The much talked about of a corporate is Financial Capital. There are other capitals also which plays an important role to the development of business and industry. These capitals are lesser known from financial point of views manufactured, intellectual, human, and social and relationship and natural capital.

Vision mission

Each capital depicted above is interlinked to the corporate responsibility of a company. Investment and savings of money is directly linked to financial capital. Woolworths Limited’s applied retail models helped it to save $500 million in terms of cost reduction for FY 2015-16. This enabled increased investment in the operation of the company leading customer satisfaction. Human capital is linked to wellbeing of employees and customers.

Grant O’Brien, CEO Woolworths Limited can be quoted saying as “we will do whatever it takes to improve its position in the retail market through commitment towards customers”. This policy of the company can be said as preservation of human capital. The intellectual capital includes processing of foods and offering better quality service to the customers. Improvement and investment in technology to source good quality food with little wastage of the resources can be termed as intellectual capital of the company, like the company is offering good quality foods with better hygiene and packaging. The social and relationship capital is nothing but building relationship with customers and other stakeholders. The price is the key driver to the growth, the competitive pricing and the quality would drive the growth for the company in future (Woolworthslimited, 2016).

The CEO has listed some targets for the company to achieve in long run which would boost the performance of the company in longer run.

• The momentum in food products has to be regained by offering better food and adding variety to it.
• The liquor division is the clear market leader, the company would hold the leadership position as long as it offers new product in different category.
• The maintenance of disciplined allocation of investment and portfolio management would underpin growth plans.

These are the fundaments of the company that will drive growth in future. Warren Buffet once said “I would prefer buying those stocks which can be seen, used and felt”. Here, Woolworths Limited can be seen, can be felt. It would be better for an investor to hold on to that company for longer term. The track record of the company says that it does what it commits. Therefore, it would be advisable to hold on to that company but investor need to remember one sentence from the same man “It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price” (Town, 2016).

References:

ASX. (2016, 09 10). WOOLWORTHS LIMITED (WOW). Retrieved 09 10, 2016, from www.asx.com.au: https://www.asx.com.au/asx/statistics/announcements.do?by=asxCode&asxCode=WOW&timeframe=D&period=M6

Federation. (2016, 09 12). federation.edu.au. Retrieved 09 12, 2016, from federation.edu.au: https://federation.edu.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0018/190044/General-Guide-to-Writing-and-Study-Skills.pdf

Town, P. (2016, 09 12). 29 Warren Buffett Quotes on Investing & Success. Retrieved 09 12, 2016, from www.ruleoneinvesting.com: https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/blog/how-to-invest/warren-buffett-quotes-on-investing-success/

Woolworths. (2016, 09 12). Environment. Retrieved 09 12, 2019, from www.woolworthslimited.com.au: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/A_Trusted_Company/Environment/

Woolworthslimited. (2016, 09 12). Annual Report. Retrieved 09 12, 2016, from www.woolworthslimited.com.au: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/icms_docs/182381_Annual_Report_2015.pdf

Woolworthslimited. (2016, 09 12). Corporate Responsibility. Retrieved 09 12, 2016, from https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/A_Trusted_Company/Corporate_Responsibility/: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/A_Trusted_Company/Corporate_Responsibility/

Woolworthslimited. (2016, 09 12). Reports. Retrieved 09 12, 2016, from www.woolworthslimited.com.au: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Invest_In_Us/Reports/Reports/

Woolworthslimited. (2016, 09 12). Woolworths Limited. Retrieved 09 10, 2016, from www.woolworthslimited.com.au: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/The_Newsroom/Latest_News/Lean_Retail_Model_to_drive_three-year_growth_plans/

Woolworthslimited. (2016, 09 10). Woolworths Supermarkets. Retrieved 09 10, 2016, from www.woolworthslimited.com.au: https://www.woolworthslimited.com.au/page/Who_We_Are/Our_Brands/Supermarkets/Woolworths/.