COMPANY COMMENT: Woolworths fails to deliver even on weak hopes
Perhaps most worrying was that the sluggish performance of David Jones, which had been ahead of the national average, has now dropped below it
It’s never a good time to release disappointing news to investors but now is probably one of the worst times. As one analyst says, investors have become extremely jittery in the wake of the Steinhoff scandal. "The post-Steinhoff market is ultrasensitive to any bad news, it’s even sensitive to rumours," says the analyst. In this context, it probably wasn’t too surprising that the Woolworths share price slumped almost 9% in early trade on Monday following the release of a trading update that disappointed the market. Investors hadn’t been expecting much, but Woolies failed to deliver on even weak expectations. The figures indicate a deterioration in the group’s performance since the 20-week update was released in December. South African clothing and David Jones were the most disappointing segments, while SA Food remained the standout performer with growth comfortably ahead of expectations. Perhaps most worrying was that the sluggish performance of David Jones, which had been ahead of t...
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