The Bookseller.com

5th July 2009

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Sales jump at EUK

31.07.07 Alison Flood

Woolworths subsidiary EUK saw third party sales for the 25 weeks to 28th July increase by 36.2%, the company said today, in what it described as "a period of considerable operational change and challenge for the business".

Woolworths said that the books market "continues to perform solidly" for EUK, but the traditional music market is in decline. The games market is showing strong growth, while sales of DVDs have been higher than anticipated, "in part because of the unseasonable weather". The news follows the Competition Commission's move last week to provisionally clear EUK's acquisition of Bertrams.

At Woolworths Retail, like-for-like sales for the eight weeks to 28th July were up 3.7%, with a 0.7% like-for-like rise over the 25 week period. Woolworths said the bad weather over the period has meant improved sales of "indoor" products at the expense of "outdoor" products.

Woolies added that margin delivery "continues to be in line with internal targets", while its stock levels continue to reduce year-on-year as it improves the efficiency of its supply chain.

Chief executive Trevor Bish-Jones said: "Whilst we are encouraged by the sales performance across the Group to date, we are mindful that the retail like-for-like performance is against weak comparatives and we continue to be cautious about the retail environment going forward. We remain focussed on running the business tightly, concentrating on cash generation, control of costs and improving margins."

EUK financial results woolworths