Woolworths follows Coles in slashing products on shelves | The Business | ABC News скачать в хорошем качестве

Woolworths follows Coles in slashing products on shelves | The Business | ABC News

Woolworths swung back to profit for the first half of the financial year, compared to a $781million statutory loss the year before. Its gross food margin was squeezed because of higher meat costs, more discounts and customers buying cheaper items. Food sales would have been higher if not for strikes at its distribution centres, costing the business $240 million. Woolworths will cut $400 million in costs, meaning some office jobs will go. And like Coles, it's also slashing the number of products it sells. Retail analyst George Boubouras from K2 Asset Management says both supermarkets will expand their homebrand range to maintain margins and deliver for their shareholders. He says even though margins are falling, they're not falling fast enough and are still double those of supermarkets in the EU and UK. Woolies chief executive Amanda Bardwell dismissed the claim saying "every country has a different economic setting, different wage rates" and she didn't want to make direct comparisons to global benchmarks. Together, Woolworths and Coles account for about 67 per cent of supermarket retail sales. Australia's consumer watchdog has been investigating that market power, and is due to deliver its final report to the federal government by February 28. The ACCC has also taken Coles and Woolworths to court, alleging the pair engaged in misleading and deceptive practices by inflating the prices of hundreds of grocery products before marking them as discounted. Food and non-alcoholic drink prices were one of the biggest contributors to inflation in the year to January, up 3.3 per cent, driven by higher costs for fruit, vegetables, meat and seafood. In the same period, headline inflation remained steady at 2.5 per cent. Former ACCC boss Graeme Samuel says he's yet to see evidence of the supermarkets price gouging. He says competition is the ultimate solution to keep prices competitive. He thinks Aldi, IGAs, Costco and Amazon are giving Australians greater choice. Rhiana Whitson reports. #ABCBusiness Subscribe: http://ab.co/1svxLVE Read more here: ABC News provides around the clock coverage of news events as they break in Australia and abroad. It's news when you want it, from Australia's most trusted news organisation. For more from ABC News, click here: https://ab.co/2kxYCZY Watch more ABC News content ad-free on ABC iview: https://ab.co/2OB7Mk1 Go deeper on our ABC News In-depth channel: https://ab.co/2lNeBn2 Like ABC News on Facebook:   / abcnews.au   Follow ABC News on Instagram:   / abcnews_au   Follow ABC News on X (Twitter):   / abcnews   Note: In most cases, our captions are auto-generated. #ABCNews #ABCNewsAustralia