Woolworths Ltd - Profile Company Report Australia

24-06-2012, 16 pages

Woolworths Ltd is an Australian owned, listed public company that derives the bulk of its income from retailing food & groceries, liquor, petrol, general merchandise and consumer electronics in Australia and New Zealand. The company employs close to 190,000 people in over 3,000 locations across Australia and New Zealand, and is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange under the code WOW. Woolworths is headquartered in Bella Vista, New South Wales.

Woolworths Limited operates as a food, liquor, petrol, consumer electronics and general merchandise retailer, and also operates in the hospitality and gaming sector. The group's main business divisions are as follows:

Australian Food and Liquor:

The company operates Woolworths supermarkets, Thomas Dux grocery stores and liquor stores trading as Dan Murphy's, BWS, Woolworths Liquor and Langton's throughout Australia. Also included in this division are Woolworths' house brands, which include Woolworths Fresh branded meat, bakery goods and fresh produce, Woolworths Select specialist food products and merchandise, and Woolworths Home Brand discount household goods and food products.

New Zealand Supermarkets:

Operating under the following brands, Woolworths, Countdown, Supervalue, Fresh Choice and Foodtown throughout New Zealand.

Petrol:

Woolworths operates over 550 petrol stations jointly with fuel retailer Caltex, co-branded as Caltex Woolworths and Caltex Safeway.

BIG W:

The company operates over 160 Big W discount department stores in Australia, retailers of hardware, stationery, books, homewares, toys, sporting goods, clothing, recorded media, software, automotive goods, pet food and health & beauty products.

Consumer Electronics:

The Consumer Electronics business includes Dick Smith Electronics, Dick Smith Electronics Powerhouse and Tandy consumer electronics retail chains. These stores sell mobile and land phones, faxes, audio visual equipment, computers and peripherals, home electrical goods, tools and accessories. This division also has a business venture in India with TATA, operating stores under the Coma brand.

Hotels:

Through 75% owned subsidiary Australian Leisure & Hospitality Group, the company operates over 280 licensed venues and gaming operations across Australia.

Other:

Woolworths operates online grocery store Greengrocer.com.au, as well as Statewide Independent Wholesalers, a grocery wholesale business based in Tasmania. The company also owns a 75% stake in hardware buying group and administrative services company Danks and has recently purchased Gunns retail division in Tasmania which included five hardware stores, one timber joinery and one truss manufacturing plant.

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