Wesfarmers Posts Annual Profit Rise, Boosts Dividend — Update

By Mike Cherney

SYDNEY--Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers said its annual net profit rose and boosted its final dividend following a good performance in its retail divisions.

Wesfarmers said its net profit in the 2024 fiscal year, which ended in June, was 2.56 billion Australian dollars (US$1.74 billion), up 3.7% on the prior year. Revenue rose by 1.5% to A$44.19 billion.

The company declared a final dividend of 107 Australian cents per share, up from 103 cents in the prior year. That brought the full-year payout to 198 cents, up from 191 cents the prior year.

Wesfarmers said its Kmart retail group was a standout, posting revenue growth of 4.4% in the 2024 fiscal year, and that its Bunnings hardware chain demonstrated resilience, with revenue growth of 2.3%. Its Officeworks chain also saw revenue rise 2.3%.

But that was offset by a decline in its chemicals, energy and fertilizer business, which saw revenue drop by nearly 17%--driven by lower global commodity prices, particularly for ammonia and associated products.

"We expected a challenging year and there were numerous headwinds to navigate with cost of living pressures, rising costs of doing business, subdued activity in residential construction and significant volatility in key commodities," Managing Director Rob Scott said.

Looking ahead, Wesfarmers said Kmart delivered sales growth in the first eight weeks of the 2025 fiscal year that was broadly in line with growth in the second half of fiscal 2024. Bunnings continued to see positive sales growth, but that had moderated from the second half. Officeworks sales growth was slightly ahead of the second half.

Wesfarmers said that construction and commissioning of a joint-venture lithium refinery should be done by the middle of calendar year 2025, and that sales of lithium hydroxide are expected to start in the 2026 fiscal year.

But it warned that operations in its chemicals, energy and fertilizers unit will continue to be impacted by higher natural gas costs in Western Australia.

Write to Mike Cherney at mike.cherney@ws.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 28, 2024 20:34 ET (00:34 GMT)

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