AUSTRALIA'S largest retailer, Woolworths, has joined the ranks of national retailers such as Gerry Harvey, of furniture and electrical store Harvey Norman, to tip another good Christmas as the supermarket chain leads in market share over rival Coles and prepares to break into the $36 billion hardware market.
Woolworths also reconfirmed its guidance for 2009-10 sales growth in the upper single digits, excluding petrol sales. It expects earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) to continue to grow faster than sales and for net profit to grow in a range of 8 per cent to 11 per cent.
In August, the retailer reported a 12.8 per cent jump in annual net profit to $1.84 billion.
Chief executive Michael Luscombe said the business was ''going along quite nicely'' and that he was looking forward to the end-of-year trading period without much impact from a possible interest rate rise in December.
''Last year we had a pretty strong Christmas, others didn't quite do so well. We're looking forward to having another good Christmas,'' Mr Luscombe said after the annual meeting yesterday.
Earlier this week, Harvey Norman chairman Mr Harvey declared that his retail chain would book record Christmas profits this year. Other retailers such as Myer and David Jones are cautiously optimistic, with both booking strong sales of Christmas decorations in the lead-up to the holiday season.
But many in the sector remain fearful that an interest rate rise in December could dent consumer confidence.
Mr Luscombe said a rise in the official interest rate would not affect the business a great deal because Woolworths sold ''the basic commodities of life''.
He said the retailer remained ahead of its main rival, Wesfarmers-owned Coles supermarkets, in food and liquor market share.
Woolworths is also preparing to take on Wesfarmers' Bunnings in the hardware sector.
With AAP
