Endeavour Group’s retail outlets Dan Murphy’s and BWS maintained steady sales in the first quarter of FY22, while sales in its hotels dropped by 9.9 per cent to $282 million. The Group recorded $2.9 billion in trade for the quarter.
Managing Director and CEO Steve Donohue said, “While Retail trading momentum was sustained across the start of the financial year, our Hotels business was significantly disrupted by the lockdowns in the key states of Victoria and New South Wales. Nationally, approximately 40 per cent of our hotels were closed across the quarter and various trading restrictions were in place across the country.”
Mr Donohue noted that on the Monday of re-opening in New South Wales after 105 days of lockdown, trading was very strong reflecting a “desire to get back to the pub”.
Endeavour’s new acquisition Terrey Hills Tavern is now open for trading, and the business also acquired The Manly Hotel and refurbished the Sunnybank Hotel, both in Queensland this part quarter. Endeavour’s hotel portfolio consists of 336 hotels and five managed clubs.
It is expected that the on-premise business will continue to be impacted for as long as social distancing restrictions are in place, demand for accommodation remains depressed and labour availability remains scant.
“While we are eagerly anticipating reopening in Victoria, we remain mindful of the broad, ongoing impacts of COVID 19. Management of team availability is a challenge both when closing and reopening, with team shortages an industry-wide issue. Additionally, supply chain constraints affecting both global and local networks are limiting our access to some products, particularly imported drinks,” said Mr Dononhue.
Endeavour closed the quarter with a new milestone: 1401 BWS stores and 253 Dan Murphy’s stores having opened stores in Fishermans Bend, Victoria and Bateau Bay, New South Wales.
Retail sales were in line with the very strong Q1 sales in F21. Both Q1 FY22 and Q1 FY21 were impacted by COVID 19 restrictions, which created a shift to at-home consumption. Sales have grown 21.4 per cent when compared to Q1 F20 (pre COVID 19). For non-lockdown states and territories[1]sales increased 17 per cent over this two year period.
Online sales were $305 million, growing 34 per cent when compared to this quarter last year and online penetration was 11.5 per cent – a new high. A portion of this growth is attributable to the shift to at-home consumption following on-premise closures. Online penetration also grew outside of New South Wales and Victoria.
For premium seeking consumers, demand for home delivery services grew and sales of Rosé and seltzer continue to be strong across the retail network.
[1] Non-lockdown states and territories refer to Queensland, Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania.
