Countdown earnings rise 10.7% on fatter margins, bigger sales

Thu, 27 Aug 2020

Lockdown pantry-stocking helped drive Woolworths' New Zealand earnings up by more than 10 percent as it managed to fatten margins despite the added cost of operating in a covid-19 environment. NZ supermarket sales, through Woolworths’ local brand Countdown, rose 9.1 percent to $7.2 billion in the 52 weeks ended June 28. That outperformed the wider group's 8.1 percent increase in group sales to A$63.68 billion. “Covid-19 also impacted the customer shopping experience, particularly in March and early April, driven by material levels of pa...

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