In a statement to the ASX Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) released sales results for Coles during the first quarter of its 2019 financial year.
Wesfarmers is a retail conglomerate that operates a variety of businesses including Bunnings, Officeworks, Kmart, Target and Coles.
Coles First Quarter Sales Jump 5%
Firstly, Wesfarmers reported that total Coles sales grew by 5% to $9.84 billion. This was largely driven by Coles Supermarkets sales growth of 5.8% to $7.66 billion.
“Strong growth in basket size, transaction numbers and units sold, as well as improvements in fresh market share supported the sales result,” Wesfarmers’ Managing Director Rob Scott said.
Coles Online grew sales by over 30% for the quarter and is on track to exceed $1 billion in FY19, the company said.
Second, the ‘Liquor’ segment of the business, which includes Liquorland, First Choice Liquor and Hotels, grew sales by 2.1% to $744 million.
Third, convenience sales increased 2.5% to $1.44 billion despite headline fuel volumes decreasing by 14.8% due to higher global oil prices and a lower Australian dollar.
Coles remains on track for de-merging from the Wesfarmers business later this year, Wesfarmers said.
The Wesfarmers share price is down 7% over the past month according to Google Finance.
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