Description of the organization

This project investigates the financial performance of key firms within the Australian retail industry. In order to do this, the financial performance of Woolworths will be compared to that of Wesfarmers. The financial performance of the companies are generally elaborated with the help of different financial as well as accounting ratios in order to achieve an idea about the financial position of the companies in the retail industry of Australia.

The assignment elaborates the background of the organizations, research problem as well as research questions. The paper mainly reviews different types of literature in order to compare as well as analyze the financial position of both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers. The assignment also helps in providing number of recommendations for resolving the issue associated with financial performance.

Description of the organization

The report mainly aims to measure as well as compare the financial performance of the companies that include Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers. It is identified that MBA is the ultimate professional development activity as it generally provides practical knowledge as well as skills, which are generally applied for comparing the financial performance of companies like Woolworths and Wesfarmers. According to Arbaugh (2014) that as the business landscape is continuing to evolve, MBAs are turning into not-for profit sector for a challenge as it helps in providing greater experience with appropriate opportunity. It is identified that four skills of practical MBA is utilized in this project in order to achieve the appropriate outcome. The skills include networking, effective group work, resilience as well as ability of multitasking. According to Yu, Ramanathan and Nath (2014), Wesfarmers is that company that belongs in the list of largest companies in Australia. The organization was originated in the year 1914. The diverse business operations of the organization generally cover various supermarkets, hotels, liquor, convenience stores and many others.

The main objective of Wesfarmers is providing proper as well as satisfactory return to its different shareholders properly. On the other hand, it is stated by that Gaur and Kesavan (2015), Woolworths is one of the largest retail industries of Australia that was founded in the year 1924. The company generally engages in selling various types of products that include fruits, vegetables, meat as well as other packed foods. It is identified that both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers are considered as the market giants of Australian retail industry as both the organization generally holds around 70% of the entire market share (Pantano 2014). It is analyzed that the net profit of Wesfarmers as well as Woolworths in the previous year is around AUS $1.4 billion as well as AUS $973 million respectively.

In the twenty-first century, the entire world of business is changing rapidly which helps in creating number of problems that are mainly associated with the financial performance of the business. The retail industries of Australia have number of business opportunities and therefore many of the investors invest their entire money in the business of Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers (Lins, Servaes and Tamayo 2017). However, it is identified that none of the company is performing efficiently. This helps in creating a major problem as the fate of all the Australian company totally depends on the financial performance. It is analyzed that the share prices of both the big corporations are minimizing or declining. The share price that is associated with Wesfarmers has declined by 0.69% whereas the share prices that are related with Woolworths declines by 1.02% (Terpstra and Verbeeten 2014). The statistics helps in indicating that there are some of the significant major problems, which are generally involved with the financial performance of the retail industry.

Research Problem

Research questions

 The research questions are as follows:

• What is the present financial performance of Wesfarmers compared to the financial performance five years ago?
• What is the present financial performance of Woolworths compared to the financial performance five years ago?
• Which of these two companies currently has the stronger financial performance?.

According to Swaminathan et al. (2014), measurement of financial performance within an organization is considered as one of the complex task as number of crucial aspects related with the procedure is analyzed. Financial procedure is considered as one of the method that helps in identifying various strengths as well as weaknesses of the business organizations with the help of appropriate financial as well as accounting information (Joshi et al. 2013).  It is identified that an individual must consider the profit and loss account as well as proper balance sheet of the companies. This is considered as one of the procedure that helps in evaluating the various financial components of the business organization in order to get proper understanding about the various financial positions as well as about the performance of the organization.

According to Cheng et al. (2014), it was generally reported by Woolworths that $1.235 decline is generally earned in underlying earnings from the Australian as well as Food and petrol business. It is identified that the supermarket generally gains net profit for the recent 52 weeks to June generally slipped due to the write-downs that are generally related with the various type of ongoing exit from different types of hardware sector. However the earning that are generally earned before interest as well as tax also dropped to $1.76 in the corresponding period due to decline in the cost of the items (Joshi et al. 2013). It was one of the big loss that Woolworths earned in the history of 23 years. The decisions that are taken by various officials of Woolworths are related with investments. It is analyzed that it helps in creating a material impact on the results of FY16 and it was found to be necessary for beginning the reconstruction of Woolworths (Patten and Zhao 2014). It is identified that early signs of progress are generally reflected as the organization is generally working in order to restore the competitive advantage for improving the entire culture of the Australian retail industry (Stewart and Gapp 2014). It is analyzed that number of significant issues as well as challenges are generally associated with the decision of the exit improvement.

 On the other hand, it is argued by Ramanathan (2014) that strong profit outcome from the organization Wesfarmers is found to be overshadowed with the help of hefty write-downs that are linked with various targets as well as coal assets. It is identified that Wesfarmers profit plunged by 83,3% in comparison to the previous year due to write-downs in $2.2 pretax that is generally from its embattled discount department store. The Perth based profit excluding various types of write-downs dropped up to 3.6%. Strong sales as well as earning growth is generally offset with the help of underlying performance as well as restoring cost that impact the various commodity prices in various types of resource business. It is stated by Call et al. (2015) that the retail portfolio which was delivered by Wesfarmers are generally done by excluding target before appropriate tax as well as growth interest. The earning by Coles estimates to 4.3% with appropriate food as well as liquor sales that generally enhances to 5.1%. It is analyzed that crucial sales growth enhances to 4.1%.

Research Questions

It was found to be one of the good results that help in driving fierce competition from the organization Woolworths (Frosen et al. 2016). Earning from the Bunning’s hardware section enhances by 11.6% with appropriate growth of revenue to around 21.4%. It is identified that target revenue that is collected faces operating loss of around $195 million including various types of restructuring costs as well as costs related to resting the business. The Wesfarmers also blames aggressive clearance and the outcome of lower Australian dollar margin on various targets that causes loss of $50 million (Roberts et al. 2015). The organization helps in creating department of stores division that generally take part in target and it becomes one of the successful stalemates in Kmart in the month of February. It is opined by Nobes and Stadler (2015) that good progress has been created due to reduction in inventory as well as rationalizing ranges but it is analyzed that further work was required. Elsewhere it is identified that the business earning losses 13.6 % when the rising revenue was found to be 8%. Thus it is analyzed that Wesfarmers entire profit drops 83.3% on $ billion write-down.

The procedure of ratio analysis is considered as one of the crucial factor in the measurement of financial performance of the companies. It is found that with the help of appropriate ratio analysis, one can easily measure the relationship that generally exists between the various financial figures as well as different business organizations (Lund and Marinova 2014). Ratio analysis is found as one of the most significant factor that helps in comparing the financial performance as well as positions of the different companies. It is found that the outcome of the ratio analysis is generally derived from the information that is associated with the financial condition of the organization, its various financial operations as well as attractiveness that are related with investment (Chen, Feldmann and Tang 2015). In order to analyze the financial ratio appropriately, it is identified that various types of financial statements of the companies are considered significant, as all the important information are associated with them. The procedure of ratio analysis helps in providing proper as well as clear picture about the various financial position of the business. Apart from the various financial positions, it is identified that ratio analysis of the business organization generally helps in determining the various future trends that are related with the organization (Patten and Zhao 2014). This, it can be considered that ratio analysis is one of the significant tool that helps in evaluating the financial performance as well as financial position of the organizations.

Cash Flow

According to Jing, Avery and Bergsteiner (2014), Woolworths utilizes the new operating model that was implemented in the year 2016. Under the operating model, it is identified that Endeavor group was generally identified as one of the separate segment of report. These types of changes are generally reflected in the year 2016 and 2015. It is identified that after 2015, the results are mainly reflected in the same manner as it was done previously. It is stated by () that cash flows from various types of activities before interest as well as taxes minimizes from $1.215.8 to $3,495.3 million and as a result if affects the lower trading performance as well as timing of payments in context to reporting period (Grimmer, Miles and Grimmer 2015). Various types of items that are generally recognized during the year greatly impacted the cash flows from various operating activities before tax as well as interest. Excluding both the impact of the creditor items as well as various significant items helps in minimizing the cash flows from different types of operating activities before both tax as well as interest are broadly in line (Saeidi et al. 2015). The cash realization ratio was 95.0% and it creates great impact on the home improvement business. Excluding home improvement, it is identified that the cash realization ratio for various types of continuing operation was about 103.6% (Abhayawansa and Guthrie 2014). Net interest that is paid was around $21.0 million as it diminishes from $289.3 million and as a result, the lower average net debt funded by proceeds received from various sales of property assets.

Literature Review

On the other hand, it is stated by Chen, Feldmann and Tang (2015) that operating cash flow of Wesfarmers decreases from $3,365 to $426 million and it reflect 11.2% reduction. Lower operating cash flows helps in reflecting proper working capital investment for improving the stock availability in various home-based as well as investment, which are generally made in order to support different types of sales growth across various Australian organizations (Ainin et al. 2015). These impacts act as an offset by various working capital investments across different industrial business. Cash realization of Wesfarmers was found to be 94.9% excluding various types of inventory investments that are generally made on cash realizations as well as home-based.

Capital expenditure

It is opined by Chadwick and Flinchbaugh (2016) that Woolworths introduced 1.5% discounts on various dividend reinvestment plans in April and has helped in limiting the participation. This helps in enhancing the rate of participation to 31% from the interim dividends. The organization also helps in underwriting the dividends to 50% for proceeding predominantly in order to replace the notes II related with Woolworths and the balance for enhancing investment in various type of store renewal programs (McManus 2013). It is stated by So et al. (2016) that Woolworths is generally related with solid investment credit rating and thus it is quite important to undertake number of ratios to support various types of credit profiles including the non-core assets (Ramanathan, Bentley and Pang 2014). It mainly helps in accelerating the initiatives of working capital and thus assists in adjusting the expenditure related with growth capital and property leasing profiles. The company is actively preceding different types of options for enhancing the value of the stakeholder in the portfolio business (Muhammad et al. 2015). It is identified that Woolworths has around AUD 381 million and the refinancing requirement was refunded by various other bank facilities that is around $2.0 billion with tenors of five to three years (Lettice, Tschida and Forstenlechner 2014). This was mainly utilized in order to repay various other debts, which were generally matured under during FY16.

On the other hand, it is argued by Chen et al. (2016) that the group of Wesfarmers generally helps in retaining strong disciples in context to various capital expenditures with various types of conservative business cases as well as conservative hurdle rates that is related with business projects. The gross capital expenditure was found to be around $1,899 million that is lower than last year. It is identified that both growth as well as refurbishment of retail store network helps in delivering strong incremental returns on capital, which was found to be one of the key driver of capital expenditure (Mokhtar, Yusoff and Ahmad 2014). Coles as well as Bunning’s are combined for 70.3% of the entire expenditure, which helps in delivering a return on capital excluding the goodwill for the year. It is identified that the total expenditure of $1,336 million was $216 million due to lack of proper retail property sales.

It is identified that Woolworths Ltd trade on the Australian Stock Exchange under the code WOW. According to Sharma, Davcik and Pillai (2016), poor first quarter sales that was released on 29th October 2015, reflects that the share prices that are dropped from the recent highs of around $27.87 for settling at $23.60. This sliding trend generally continues throughout the way for last six months (Dissanayake et al. 2016). It is identified that the low point was generally hit in the year 2012. It is identified that the 10-year row can be generally attributed due to the release of proper dividend on 8^th April and has paid around $0.44 per share. The rise to $22.19 on 15^th April helps in suggesting that there are number of investors who generally know the value of Woolworths due to their low prices. On the other hand, Harte et al. (2013) it is identified that Wesfarmers have delivered compound annual growth of around 11.5% in TSR in comparison to the TSR that is associated with ASX 200 of 9.4%.

Financial Statements

Balance sheet

According to Khlif,  Guidara and Souissi (2015) Wesfarmers group helps in maintaining a strong balance sheet during the year. It is identified that the net financial debt generally includes appropriate interest rate swap and excludes finance related with Cole’s credit card. Debt generally enhances due to various types of acquisitions of both working investment as well as home-based. It is identified that working capital generally enhances due to rise of inventories as well as receivables that are generally offset with the increase in payables (Stubbs, Higgins Milne,  and Hems 2014). It is analyzed that working capital generally driven by acquisition of both home-based as well as business growth across the retail portfolio. The net tax balance generally enhances due to various types of deferred tax assets that are generally recognized in relation to non-cash impairment.

On the other hand, it is stated by Varsei et al. (2014), that the total funds employed generally diminish by $3,682 million that generally impacted with the help of impairment charges as well as provisions that are generally recognized during the period on various types of significant items. The equity of the shareholders generally decreases $2,364 million that helps in reflecting the loss from different types of disconnected attributes of Woolworths (Grimmer and Bingham 2013). The net tax balances of $1,070.5 million increases from $ 416 million in context to tax benefits that are gathered with the expense of significant items and causes decrease in current tax payable that is driven with the help of higher tax installment by applying appropriate tax payment in the FY16 on various types of profits.

It is stated by Hogarth, Hutchinson and Scaife (2016) that research methodology  is one of the process that is generally used for gathering various type of important data as well as information in order to make appropriate decisions. The main aim of the research is to get proper information as well as knowledge with appropriate experience for attaining new approaches within the project. The paper generally analyzes the Financial Performance in Australian Retail Industry by comparing organizations like Wesfarmers as well as Woolworths Limited. The research methodology mainly comprises of research design, research approach as well as research philosophy (Carlos et al. 2014). It is identified that research design method is generally used in order to integrate components as well as methods of the research study in a quite logical way. The process of research method generally helps in drawing all the methods that are related with different research procedure (Stewart and Gapp 2014).In order to carry out the entire research, secondary data are generally utilized as well as collected. After collecting appropriate information as well as data, the project will be analyzed with the help of the ratio analysis. For completing the ratio analysis properly, Microsoft Excel is required to be used. The financial performance of both the companies Wesfarmers as well as Woolworths are measured with the help of appropriate ratio analysis (Cummings 2016). All the findings are generally utilized for measuring the performance of the Australian retail sector.

Financial ratio analysis generally refers to mathematical comparison of both financial statements accounts and categories. The relationships between the financial statements help creditors, internal company management as well as investors to understand the business properly for performing and for making the required improvement (Vogel 2014). Financial ratios are generally considered as the most common as well as widespread too that is utilized for analyzing a business financial standing. This tool is generally utilized in order to analyze the financial standard of both the companies Wesfarmers and Woolworths.

The main advantage of utilizing the financial ratio is that it generally helps in simplifying the financial statements of the organization. It generally assists in comparing the organization like Woolworths and Wesfarmers with each other (Grinblatt and Titman 2016). It helps in trend analysis, which mainly involves comparing a single company over a period. Financial ratio analysis also provide appropriate information very quickly.

Financial ratio analysis also has some disadvantages. Different companies generally operate in various industries with different environmental condition that include market structure as well as regulation. It is identified that this factors are so significant that a comparison between two companies might be misleading (Banos, Garcia and Martínez 2014). Financial accounting information is generally affected due to assumptions as well as estimates. Accounting standards helps in providing different types of accounting policies, which generally helps in impairing comparability.

Benchmarking is defined as a procedure of measurement of the quality that is mainly related with the policies, products, programs as well as strategies of an organization and their comparison with standard measurement. The main objective of the benchmarking is to determine the need of the improvement and to analyze the way that helps the organization in achieving high performance levels (Demortain 2014). Benchmarking is considered as one of the integral part of continuous improvement cycle. The main essences of benchmarking include measuring, competition as well as identification of opportunities.

Data collection procedure is defined as a methodology, which is generally used for gathering different type of data as well as information on various types of targeted variables in a quite systematic fashion (Sharma, Davcik and Pillai 2016).  The data collection methodology is generally divided into primary data collection procedure as well as secondary data collection method. In this specific research, secondary data collection methodology is generally utilized (Lettice, Tschida and Forstenlechner 2014). The secondary data that are utilized within the project include financial as well as accounting information of the organization.  It is quite important to take some of the major ratios within consideration. The utilized data and information include profitability ratio, net profit ratio, liquidity ratio, asset ratio, efficiency ratio and many more. It is identified that both analysis as well as evaluation of this ratios are generally useful n determining the financial performance of Wesfarmers as well as Woolworths. In order to analyze the ratios properly, the data from 2013 to 2016 must be taken into consideration. The necessary data that is related with ratio analysis will be gathered from various financial statement of the organization (Khlif, Guidara and Souissi 2015). Apart from various types of financial statements, it is identified that secondary data are generally collected with the help of various newspaper articles, government website as well as journal articles that contains information as well as data about both the organizations.

There are various types of ethical considerations that are required to be incorporated within the project. While conducting the research, it is quite important for the researchers to follow appropriate rules as well as regulations. The collected data as well as information must be kept secure as well as safe. It is identified that all ethical considerations must be followed by the researchers while gathering important data as information. It is also important to ensure that the information as well as collected data must be actual as well as authentic. It is quite important for the researcher of the project must not utilize any illegal site for undertaking the research program.

Analysis

The table below helps in reflecting the annual report of Wesfarmers and Woolworths Limited. It is identified by comparing the two tables that the profitability ratio ROA, ROE, profit margin helps in showing that the profitability of Woolworth is better than Wesfarmers. It is analyzed that the profitability ratio that is associated with Woolworths is always higher as compared to Wesfarmers (Khlif, Guidara and Souissi 2015).  In the year 2011, Woolworths mainly generated 16.56% of EBIT per dollar related with investments whereas it is found that Wesfarmers helps in generating 6.76% that 2.4 times less than that of Woolworths. According to Grimmer and Bingham (2013), the ROE of Woolworths is higher as compared to Wesfarmers limited. One dollar related with the shareholder of Woolworth’s equity is found to be 24.35% of the total earning that is mainly available before the various shareholders. On the other hand, the shareholder equity ratio that is present for Wesfarmers Limited is around 7.68%. It is reflected that the profit that the profit margin ratio of Woolworths is not much high. This ratio generally helps in measuring the net profit that is mainly earned with each pound of sales and it is also found to be associated with various proportions of sales like financing expenses, general expenses as well as administrative expenses (Mokhtar et al. 2014). This it helps in reflecting that every dollar of sales that is mainly generated is 6.04% of EBIT for Woolworths whereas 5.12% of cents for Wesfarmers.

Table 1: Annual report of Wesfarmers limited

Table 2: Annual report of Woolworths limited

It is opined by Khlif, Guidara and Souissi (2015) that the liquidity position of Wesfarmers is much better as compared to Woolworths as it has appropriate as well as better current ratio that is around 1.72times in comparison to that of Woolworths. It is analyzed that might Woolworths faces number of problems that are generally associated with the liquidity for paying various types of short term obligations.

It is stated by Lettice, Tschida and Forstenlechner (2014) that the financial analysis of both the company Wesfarmers as well as Woolworths helps in reflecting that both the organization are performing appropriately and they are capturing the strong financial position till 2011. It is found that Wesfarmers generally have much higher level of equity than various types of debt liabilities which mainly reflects that the organization have strong investment quality. It is analyzed that Woolworths have higher level of debt liabilities as compared to equity which generally helps in indicating that is does not have appropriate strong quality of investment though the organization was found to be in the strongest financial position due to its positive financial performance (Mokhtar, Yusoff and Ahmad 2014). Both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers generally run their business quite differently. For example, Wesfarmers generally engages in selling various off sets whereas Woolworths is mainly engaged in acquiring different type of assets. It is analyzed that Woolworths generally helps in lifting its equity level above its debt liabilities for having appropriate as well as strong investment quality. Both the companies are managed appropriately and it is analyzed that both the o0rganization have strong financial market that helps in gearing towards improvement as well as growth. The prospects from various types of predictors helps in indicating that the organization will grow and will be financially strong in the coming future.

Conclusion

It can be concluded from the overall assignment that Woolworths have strong financial position in the retail market of Australia in comparison to Wesfarmers limited. It is identified that both the organization suffered loss in recent year due to poor performance and as a result number of major problems are occurring as the fate of all the Australian company totally depends on the financial performance. It is analyzed that the share prices of both the big corporations are minimizing or declining. The share price that is associated with Wesfarmers has declined by 0.69% whereas the share prices that are related with Woolworths declines by 1.02%. It is reflected from the paper that both the companies are managed appropriately and it is analyzed that the organization have strong financial market that helps in gearing towards improvement as well as growth. The prospects from various types of predictors helps in indicating that the organization will grow and will be financially strong in the coming future.It is also found that due to inappropriate performance, Woolworth’s faces decline of 1.235% that is associated with the various types of underlying earnings from the Australian as well as Food and petrol business. The Wesfarmers present financial condition was also not found to be appropriate and it is analyzed that the organization entire profit drops by 83.3%. The paper compare the financial performance of both the companies by reviewing various types of journals as well as literatures and it analyzed that Woolworths capture the strong financial position in the Australian market in comparison to Woolworths.

 The recommendations that are helpful in improving the financial performance of both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers include:

 Monitor financial position appropriately: In order to improve the financial position, the organizations like Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers must monitor the progress of the entire business appropriately.  The organization must review their position by managing the cash flow appropriately.

Keeping clear business plan: Both the organization must establish business plan appropriately as it helps in providing detailed information about the finance related activities within the organization so that they can manage their financial outcome appropriately

Keeping accounting record up to date: It is quite important to keep all the records of the organization up to date. If accounting records are not up to date then the organization will lose money Therefore in order to achieve appropriate financial performance, both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers must keep their accounting up to date by tracking debts, expenses, creditors as well as other financial funding.

Meeting tax deadlines: If the organizations are unable to meet deadlines for filing various tax returns as well as payments then it is helpful incurring fines as well as interest. The unnecessary cost related with the organization can be maintained appropriately by planning properly. Keeping records not only helps in saving time as well money but also in maintaining the financial position.

Maintaining efficiency in controlling overheads: The organization must be efficient enough to control overheads related with the retail industry of Australia so that they can resolve financial related problems within the organization and can achieve appropriate financial position within the market of Australia. It is analyzed that saving both money as well as existing equipments also helps in maintaining the finance of both Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers.

Tackle problems properly: The organizations like Woolworths as well as Wesfarmers must tackle various types of financial problems properly in order to resolve various types of problems. It not only helps in resolving problems but also help organization in achieving their appropriate financial position in the market of Australia.

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