{"id":8038,"date":"2012-02-16T14:08:37","date_gmt":"2012-02-16T12:08:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/02\/update-1-s-africas-woolworths-h1-profit-up-35-pct\/"},"modified":"2012-02-16T14:08:37","modified_gmt":"2012-02-16T12:08:37","slug":"update-1-s-africas-woolworths-h1-profit-up-35-pct","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/update-1-s-africas-woolworths-h1-profit-up-35-pct\/","title":{"rendered":"UPDATE 1-S.Africa&#8217;s Woolworths H1 profit up 35 pct"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Headline EPS at 135.5 pct vs 100.6 cents<span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Sales up 11.1 pct to 14.2 bln rand<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>* Expects similar rate of sales growth in H2<\/p>\n<p> (Adds details, shares)<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>JOHANNESBURG, FEB 16 &#8211; South African retailer<br \/>\nWoolworths Holdings reported a 35 percent rise in<br \/>\nfirst-half profit on Thursday, helped by favourable swings in<br \/>\ncurrencies and robust spending over the Christmas period.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Woolworths, which sells clothing and high-end food, said<br \/>\ndiluted headline earnings per share totalled 135.5 cents in the<br \/>\nsix months to end-December compared with 100.6 cents a year<br \/>\nearlier.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Woolworths, similar in style and products to Britain&#8217;s Marks<br \/>\nand Spencer Group Plc, said sales rose 11.1 percent to<br \/>\n14.2 billion rand ($1.84 billion).<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The company said trading in the first six weeks of the<br \/>\nsecond half suggested that it was likely to post a similar rate<br \/>\nof growth through the end of June.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Consumer spending is improving in Africa&#8217;s top economy<br \/>\nthanks to decades-low interest rates and above-inflation wage<br \/>\nincreases, but the outlook is uncertain due to high personal<br \/>\ndebt levels and chronic unemployment.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>South African retail sales jumped 8.7 percent year-on-year<br \/>\nin December, from an upwardly revised 7.2 percent growth in<br \/>\nNovember and beating a 6.5 percent slow down economists had<br \/>\nexpected.<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Shares in the company, which also operates in Australia<br \/>\nthrough its unit Country Road Holdings, fell 1.55<br \/>\npercent, paring this year&#8217;s gains to 7.2 percent.<br \/>\n($1 = 7.7336 South African rand)<\/p>\n<p><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"copyright\">\n<p>         \t\t\u00a9 Thomson Reuters 2012 All rights reserved<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>* Headline EPS at 135.5 pct vs 100.6 cents * Sales up 11.1 pct to 14.2 bln rand * Expects similar rate of sales growth in H2 (Adds details, shares) JOHANNESBURG, FEB 16 &#8211; South African retailer Woolworths Holdings reported a 35 percent rise in first-half profit on Thursday, helped by favourable swings in currencies [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[830,2370,183],"class_list":{"0":"post-8038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-news","8":"tag-reuters","9":"tag-south-africa-2","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8038\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}