Bulletin: Home Consumption Spike To Moderate After Surge In Woolworths' Sales

MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 27, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said that Woolworths Group Ltd. (BBB/Stable/A-2) has ridden the wave of home consumption as stay-at-home restrictions limit the spending behaviors of Australian and New Zealand consumers. We expect the surge in grocery and takeaway liquor sales during the six months to June 28, 2020, to moderate through the year ending June 2021. However, given that consumers' social movements remain somewhat restricted, we anticipate grocery sales and takeaway liquor demand to remain elevated over the next 12 months. In our view, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced our view that nondiscretionary food-based and everyday retailing is resilient. Woolworths' earnings are skewed to this retailing offer. COVID-related costs will continue to constrain EBIT

...August 26, 2020 MELBOURNE (S&P Global Ratings) Aug. 27, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said that Woolworths Group Ltd. (###/Stable/A-2) has ridden the wave of home consumption as stay-at-home restrictions limit the spending behaviors of Australian and New Zealand consumers. We expect the surge in grocery and takeaway liquor sales during the six months to June 28, 2020, to moderate through the year ending June 2021. However, given that consumers' social movements remain somewhat restricted, we anticipate grocery sales and takeaway liquor demand to remain elevated over the next 12 months. In our view, the COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced our view that nondiscretionary food-based and everyday retailing is resilient. Woolworths' earnings are skewed to this retailing offer. COVID-related costs will continue to constrain EBIT margin improvement over the next 12 months. The spike in sales growth across all key businesses during the peak pandemic periods required Woolworths to incur incremental...

Bulletin