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Insights 17th February 2022

Wesfarmers' profit takes a hit from COVID | Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) Reporting Season Results

Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) reported its half-year 2022 results this morning. I’ll take you through the key highlights now.

Wesfarmers' managing director Rob Scott described the period as the most disrupted half since the onset of the pandemic, which included the widespread closures of its Officeworks and Kmart stores last year. On a positive note however, its Bunnings business saw its revenue increase 1.7% to $9.2b.

Overall however, Wesfarmers’ revenue came in at $17.758b, which was slightly lower than the prior corresponding period.

NPAT was down 12.7% to $1.213b. That was in line with the market consensus but slightly lower than Bell Potter’s expectation of $1.264b.

EBIT – earnings before interest and tax reached $1.9b, which represented a 12.3% fall.

Wesfarmers’ also announced an interim, fully franked dividend of 80 cents per share, which is about 9% lower than in 2021.

Looking to the future, Wesfarmers is focused on long-term growth, which includes new market-leading data and digital ecosystems, investing in platforms, as well as accelerating the pace of continuous improvement.

Since the announcement, there has been one broker update from Ord Minnett. The broker has a HOLD rating with a $57 price target.

And as at the time of recording Wesfarmers’ share price is down 6%.