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SYDNEY - Australia's number one retailer, Woolworths, is the country's first company to break into the top 25 global retailers list, according to a report released yesterday.
The Deloitte 2008 Global Powers of Retailing report, which identifies the 250 largest retailers globally for 2006/07, noted that Woolworths jumped
from 29th place to 25th place, while its competitor, Coles Group, slipped one spot to 31st.
Both Australian retail giants remained in third and fourth places, respectively, in the Asia-Pacific top 10, the report showed.
Woolworths, currently fighting for the legal right to bid for The Warehouse chain, had compound annual sales rates for the past five years at 11.8 per cent. Coles Group, which has just been bought by Wesfarmers, was at 7.5 per cent.
Deloitte Australia's consumer business leader Andrew Griffiths said both retailers were punching above their weight given the size of the Australian market.
"Both Woolworths and Coles Group have been iconic brands for many decades having diversified with their retail offer from supermarkets to liquor, general merchandise and petrol," Griffiths said.
Wal-Mart Stores remained the world's largest retailer and increased its lead over second-placed Carrefour Group, of France.
They are followed by the US-based The Home Depot, United Kingdom's Tesco and Germany's Metro.
The report also found that the Australian companies in the top 250 have, on average, the highest market capitalisation to assets ratio.
In this category, Woolworths has climbed from 13th place to 9th place and Coles Group leaped from 41st place to 20th place.
"The financial markets are valuing highly these Australian companies' non-tangible assets such as brand equity, differentiation, innovation, first-mover advantage, market dominance, customer loyalty, execution, and customer experience," Griffiths said.
"The Coles Group improvement is not surprising as it attracted so much takeover attention from Wesfarmers last year."
The Western Australian conglomerate jumped 20 positions to 176th, with its compound annual sales rate for the past five years at 10 per cent.
"Wesfarmers' position in future top 250s is expected to improve following its successful takeover of the Coles Group in November 2007," Griffiths said.
The report showed total global retail sales for the top 250 rose to US$3.25 trillion ($4.13 trillion).
It estimated that global economic growth in 2008 was likely to slow, largely as a result of a credit crunch-inspired slowdown in the US.
- AAP