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Woolworths final results June 2019

Published: 2nd Sep 2019

Cape Town, W Cape, SA (August 29, 2019) – Revenue for the year increased to R75.179 billion (2018: R70.572 billion), gross profit climbed to R27.964 billion (2018: R26.892 billion), operating profit lowered to R5.121 billion (2018: R5.259 billion), loss attributable to shareholders of the parent narrowed to R1.086 billion (2018: loss of R3.550 billion), while headline earnings per share lowered to 342.9 cents per share (2018: 346.3 cents per share).
       Dividend: The board of directors has declared a final gross cash dividend per ordinary share of 98.5 cents (78.8 cents net of dividend withholding tax) for the 53 weeks ended 30 June 2019, a 24.5% decrease on the prior year's 130.5 cents per share. This brings the total dividend for the year to 190.5 cents, a 20.3% decrease on the prior year's total dividend of 239.0 cents per share.
       Company outlook: In South Africa, consumer spending is expected to remain constrained. However, we expect Food to continue to trade ahead of the market and for FBH to continue its turnaround.
       In Australia, we believe the retail market will continue to be tough with heavy discounting and promotional activity.
       We remain committed to delivering our strategies and invest in initiatives that drive growth and efficiencies, while focusing on reducing costs, improving cash flows and strengthening the balance sheet.

Footwear Industry Articles

‘Footwear and leather goods sectors show united front at R-CTFL Masterplan review’
The R-CTFL Masterplan is currently under review, and a strategic planning session was recently convened with all key stakeholders and representatives present.The footwear and leather contingent participated fully in the session. Representatives from the dtic’s Footwear and Leather sector desk, SAFLEC, SAFLIA, and organised labour, i ...more
‘Growth in online gambling may be big factor in siphoning off disposable income’
East London, E. Cape, SA – Trading conditions are constrained and steady. We need to focus on good quality products at reasonable prices / value. We are optimistic about the direction of the overall economy in RSA.As a wise man once said regarding growing a business: “Sometimes you have to move slowly to be able to move fast.& ...more
We could make sports shoes then, and I’m sure we could make them now
Retired shoemaker Brian Zyster shares more of his memories of ‘the good old days’ of footwear manufacturing in South Africa ...more

Leather Industry Articles

LEATHER’S ELEMENTARY UNIT
Geoff Attenburrow’s PhD student David M. Wright worked on the behaviour of leather under strain (Attenburrow, 1993; Wright, 1996). They were the first to describe that leather had a “co-operating unit”, a set of structures within leather that helped the leather to resist breaking and to resist deformation at low strain.T ...more
Leather Naturally launches new report on sustainable water management
Leather Naturally’s latest educational resource, Sustainable Water Management in the Leather Industry (https://www.leathernaturally.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Leather-Naturally-Sustainable-Water-Management.pdf), is available to download.Developed using insights from recent public consultation, the report explores:* Why water rem ...more
Mobilising Africa’s natural livestock resource to reinvigorate the regional leather value chain
Africa possesses one of the world’s largest livestock populations, yet the continent captures only a fraction of the value generated from leather and leather-based products. From cattle in the East and South Africa, to goats and sheep across North Africa, the continent’s abundant livestock resource represents not only a source ...more

PPE Industry Articles

The legal ramifications: PPE and the law: Ignore at your peril?
There’s no shortage of legislation covering employee safety in South Africa, but as in so much else, the enforcement is poor.In terms of our laws, the death of an employee (or anyone else) in a work situation, caused by negligence, is treated as culpable homicide. An injury caused by negligence is also a criminal act – that, b ...more
What if the respirator you rely on to protect your health never sealed properly?
I had the opportunity to present at the first PPE Conference in RSA, where I shared some early work we) have been exploring towards developing respirator designs better suited to the South African population.Below is a short AI-generated summary of the core message of the presentation.Respirators are often the last line of defence against ...more
The concepts behind safety: Why bother with PPE on the ‘Road to Zero Harm’?
For over a decade, the ILO and other such bodies have been pushing this whole notion of "Zero Harm", "Road to Zero" and other such catchy titles, all pushing the idea most probably backed by one-sided research that "Zero Harm" is the only way and can be achieved if you work hard enough.My problem with this id ...more