News
Woolworths' profits rise
Helen Jacobs Apr 2 2008, 11:37am
Retailer cuts dividends amid tough trading conditions.
Woolworths has increased its full year profit by 30 per cent to £28.3 million.
Sales increased by 8.5 per cent to almost £3 billion, with multi channel sales up by 5.2 per cent.
However, the retailer cut dividends by 66 per cent, which Trevor Bish-Jones, CEO, said was “an appropriate thing to do”.
“We think at the current level the dividend provides a reasonable balance between making a return for investors, at the current share price, and giving us the flexibility to move forward,” Bish-Jones said.
'Whilst current like-for-like sales are up against last year, the much earlier Easter makes the like-for-like comparisons meaningless. It is early days and the retail environment is likely to remain challenging in the current year. We will, therefore, continue to manage the business tightly,” he also said.
