Australia's Wesfarmers to wind down Catch in Q4, sees one-off costs of up to $38 mln (updated)

WESFARMERS

20/01/2025 23:03

(Updates with further details in paragraphs 2, 4, 5, background
in paragraph 3)
       Jan 21 (Reuters) - Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers
 WES.AX  said on Tuesday its e-commerce retailer, Catch, will
cease to operate as a standalone business in the fourth quarter
of fiscal 2025.
    Wesfarmers, Australia's biggest non-food retail group, said
it would transfer Catch's e-commerce fulfilment centres to Kmart
Group while select digital capabilities developed in Catch will
be transferred to Wesfarmers' retail divisions.
    The company acquired Catch Group for about A$230 million
($144.26 million) in 2019 to boost the small online footprint of
its retail units such as Kmart and Target.
        "Wesfarmers expects to record one-off costs associated
with the wind down and transition of Catch of between A$50
million and A$60 million, to be included in the results for the
second half of the 2025 financial year," the conglomerate said
in its statement.
  
        "The recent increase in competitive intensity in the
Australian e-commerce sector has affected Catch's financial
performance and growth prospects," said Wesfarmers' managing
director, Rob Scott.
  


($1 = 1.5944 Australian dollars)

 (Reporting by Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Rod
Nickel and Diane Craft)
 ((Shivangi.Lahiri@thomsonreuters.com;))