Woolworths’s resilience against plummeting economic conditions in South Africa helped its revenues for the interim period to end December 2023, although its Australian and New Zealand operations suffered from depressed consumer sentiment as shopping trends shift away from spending on goods and services.

Woolworths’s turnover and concession sales for the half-year quickened by 5.4% to R38.1bn (US$2bn). However, PBT were 14.2% softer, Woolworths grew its available space by 3.3% compared to the previous period, while online sales surged by 46.6%.

Woolworths on-demand shopping platform, Dash, contributed 5.1% of South African sales. Growth in new accounts and credit card advances drove up Woolworths Financial Services to a year-on-year increase of 4.9% as at the end of December 2023.

Woolworths faced a ‘challenging macro environment and a high prior-year base’ for the period under review. These were exacerbated by energy and logistics crises that continued to ‘to impact both business and consumer’ confidence.