Executive Summary
03/03/2009 Woolworths was delisted from LSE having gone bust.
Woolworths Group plc is principally a UK retailer focused on the home, family and entertainment. Woolworths offers its customers value-for-money on an extended range of products. It is built around the well known Woolworths brand which is represented in towns and cities throughout the UK. The product offer covers Toys, Children's Clothing, Events, Confectionery, Home and Entertainment; larger stores include a more comprehensive range of Home and Children's Clothing. The Company also has out-of-town stores offering a wider selection of toys, a babyshop, kids' bedroom ranges and entertainment products, all from a superstore format.
In the year to 2 February 2008, total Group revenue was £2.97bn (8.5% increase) and operating profit was £33.4m, up from £26.7m in 2007[1]
Company History
- F.W. Woolworths, a subsidiary of its US parent, was founded in the UK in 1909. The first store opened in Liverpool. During the 1980s, management rationalised the offer into clearly defined categories: entertainment, home, kids (toys and clothing) and confectionery.
- In the late 1990s, the management extended the Woolworths brand into other retail formats and alternative channels to accelerate growth by taking advantage of changing retail trends. This resulted in the opening of the first big W store in 1999 and Woolworths General Store in 2000.
- Woolworths Group plc began trading as a listed company on the London Stock Exchange on 28 August 2001 after its demerger from Kingfisher plc.
Main Products
Woolworths offers its customers value-for-money on an extended range of products. It is built around the well known Woolworths brand which is represented in towns and cities throughout the UK. The Group also operates the entertainment businesses E.UK and 2 Entertain. E.UK is Britain's largest wholesale distributor of home entertainment products whilst 2 Entertain is an audio-visual publishing group.
Key Segments/Customers
Main Competitors
Competitive Strengths and Issues
Key Financials
Valuation
Balance sheet
Investment Rationale
Investment Risks
Senior management
- Steve Johnson was appointed CEO with effect from 1st September 2008. Steve Johnson was most recently Chief Executive of Focus DIY, a post held for four years until July 2007. Before that he had worked for GUS; for supermarket chain Asda in a variety of roles; and in consulting at The Kalchas Group and Bain & Company. Steve is currently a non-executive director of the Unipart Group of Companies Ltd.
- Richard North…
