Pubs and bottle-shop group’s sales lift but profit down
Drinks chain owner Dan Murphy’s has increased sales after offering lower prices to customers, but that doesn’t yet mean higher profits.
Endeavor, which also owns bottle shop chain BWS and hundreds of bars, reported interim net profit of $247 million; this was approximately $50 million less than the final first half result.
The group’s sales rose 0.9 percent to $6.7 billion.
CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, former head of Virgin Australia, said the group had restarted “top line growth” in its retail bottle shop business of more than 1,700 stores.
“In a challenging market, our increased focus on value and price leadership has been embraced by our customers and is driving sales growth and market share gains,” he said in a statement Wednesday.
Dan Murphy’s and BWS’s sales rose 0.2 percent to $5.5 billion, while its bars division, which includes more than 350 hotels, increased revenue 4.4 percent to nearly $1.2 billion.
The latter’s sales were driven by an increase in gaming, better performances in renovated venues and a positive trend in food and bar shopping.
“Hotels achieved their strongest ever monthly sales result in December, boosted by record sales in the week before Christmas as well as record food, bar and accommodation sales on New Year’s Eve,” Endeavor said.
Some of the hotels under the Endeavor umbrella include Breakfast Creek Hotel in Brisbane, Young & Jackson in Melbourne and Jamison Hotel in Sydney.
Looking ahead, Endeavor said the outlook for consumer spending is uncertain given high inflation and rising interest rates.
“The group’s scale, value proposition and market-leading brands mean we are well placed to compete and win in a market where consumers are focused on value for money,” he added.
Sales in the first seven weeks of the second half of the 2025/26 season increased by 1.3 percent at bottle shops and 4.5 percent at hotels.
Endeavor will reduce its dividend payment to 10.8 cents in the first half, from 12.5 cents previously.
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
