Australia's Coles rises, Jefferies sees court ruling as negative but balanced

Woolworths

15/05/2026 02:31

Updates

** Shares of Australia's Coles COL.AX rise as much as 1.4% to A$20.940

** An Australian court on Thursday found that COL had misled shoppers by hiking prices on hundreds of goods and then advertising discounts even though the discounted prices were higher than the earlier sale prices

** Jefferies says the Federal Court ruling on Coles is  "negative but balanced", noting price hikes commercially justified

** Brokerage says this could soften penalties, limit consumer backlash

** Jefferies says forcing retailers to keep products at a "normal" price for a proper period before discounting will likely change their behaviour

** Says it is "ultimately positive given it places COL, Woolworths WOW.AX and other competitors on a level playing field

** Jefferies expects major chains to remain rational as inflation picks up and to benefit from the subsequent sales tailwind

** COL down 3% this year

 (Reporting by Rajasik Mukherjee in Bengaluru)

 ((Rajasik.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com))