The owner of liquor chain Dan Murphy’s has increased sales after offering customers lower prices, although that’s yet to translate to higher profits.
Endeavour, which also owns the bottle shop chain BWS and hundreds of pubs, reported a bottom-line interim net profit of $247 million, which was about $50 million less than its last first-half result.
Group sales were up 0.9 per cent to $6.7 billion.
The group was restarting “top line growth” in its retail bottle shop business, which comprises more than 1700 stores, said CEO Jayne Hrdlicka, the former head of Virgin Australia.
“In a challenging market, our increased focus on value and price leadership has been embraced by our customers and is delivering sales growth and market share gains,” she said in a statement on Wednesday.
Sales for Dan Murphy’s and BWS rose 0.2 per cent to $5.5 billion, while the pubs division, which includes more than 350 hotels, boosted revenue by 4.4 per cent to about $1.2 billion.
Sales for the latter were driven by an uplift in gaming, better performances at refurbished venues, and a positive trend in food and bar transactions.
“Hotels delivered its strongest monthly sales result ever in December, supported by record sales in the week leading up to Christmas, as well as record sales of food, bar and accommodation on New Year’s Eve,” Endeavour said.
Some of the hotels under the Endeavour umbrella include Brisbane’s Breakfast Creek Hotel, Young & Jackson in Melbourne, and the Jamison Hotel in Sydney.
Looking ahead, Endeavour said the outlook for consumer spending was uncertain given elevated inflation and rising interest rates.
“The group’s scale, value proposition and market-leading brands mean we are well positioned to compete and win in a market where consumers remain focused on value for money,” it added.
Sales for the first seven weeks of the second half of 2025/26 were 1.3 per cent higher for its bottle shops and 4.5 per cent for its hotels.
Endeavour will pay a first-half dividend of 10.8 cents, down from 12.5 cents previously.
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