Retail supermarket company, Woolworths Group, nearly reached $15 million in sales for its continuing operations, according to third quarter sales results for the 13 weeks to 31 March 2019.

Woolworths Group CEO, Brad Banducci, is pleased with the improvement in sales momentum across the Group in Q3, despite a challenging first half, with Australian Food comparable sales growth of 4.2 per cent (Easter-adjusted) a particular highlight.

Australian Food reported sales of $10.017 million for the 13 weeks to 31 March 2019, up from last year’s result: $9.624 million.

Total third quarter sales from continuing operations, including Australian Good, Endeavour Drinks, New Zealand Food, Big W and Hotels, was $14.898 million

“While we had positive transaction and item growth, sales also benefitted from lower deflation than recent periods and settled weather,” he said. “Customer scores remained high but were marginally lower than the prior year with plans in place to address areas of underperformance. Our ‘Simpler for Stores’ productivity program continues to build momentum and there are a number of initiatives underway to address higher than forecast stock loss.”

Banducci said Big W sales growth has been strong with Easter-adjusted comparable sales growth of 7.4 per cent.

“The challenge for BIG W remains converting strong sales growth into improved profit and we continue to expect a loss before interest and tax of $80-$100 million in F19,” he said. “New Zealand Food delivered solid Easter-adjusted comparable growth of 3.8 per cent and Hotels also improved on Q2’19 growing by 2.7 per cent.”

In other news, Woolworths is tackling food waste with a start-up.

(Image: Woolworths Group CEO, Brad Banducci.)