Woolworths's problems in its Australian business have put the retailer under immense pressure. But the acquisition is not a deal the group regrets, outgoing chair Simon Susman said this week. "We've debated endlessly. Would we have taken that decision again? And the answer is yes," he said. Woolworths bought Australian retailer David Jones for R21.4bn in 2014, but the acquisition has not yielded the expected results. Four years after the purchase Woolworths had to write off almost R7bn, which led to a loss after tax of R3.5bn in the year to end-June 2018, from a profit of R5.4bn the year before. Susman conceded that the problems at David Jones were significant. "We've got a big challenge in Australia," he said. But he said that "David Jones is a magnificent business. We underestimated two or three things, including the scope of change required in a massively under-invested business." On Thursday, Woolworths released a trading update for the 20 weeks to November 11 that showed its no...
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