Food, liquor drive Coles profit
SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Australia's biggest retailer Coles Myer has posted a record interim profit of Aust. $350 million ($263 million) on strong growth in its food and liquor business.
The result pushed Coles Myer shares sharply higher on the Australian market Thursday, with the stock closing 3.5 percent higher at A$8.21, its best in two years.
Rival retailer Woolworths made a slight gain of 0.17 percent to A$11.94 on a day the overall market closed flat.
Coles Myer CEO John Fletcher called the half-year profit a "great result" and said the group was well on its way to achieving its cost savings target of A$300 million by the end of July.
Fletcher said profit from Coles Myer's food and liquor business was up 14.3 percent -- its best interim growth rate in six years.
Total sales rose 13.3 percent to A$15.7 billion.
Fletcher said full-year earnings had been upgraded by A$10 million to an expected net profit of A$530-540 million.
Last September the group posted full-year earnings for 2002-03 of A$455 million, and said a transformation of its supply chain would help it reach a profit target of A$800 million by 2006.
Coles Myer competes fiercely with Woolworths for the bulk of Australia's consumer spending. Between them, they have total annual sales of about A$55 billion.
Both run supermarkets, liquor outlets and general merchandise stores, with Coles also having the Myer department stores.
Both also offer discount petrol to shoppers, with Woolworths' long-running program well ahead in the number of sites it operates.
But Fletcher said Thursday response to the discount fuel offer that Coles Myer began last July had been "exceptional".
