Melbourne, Feb 22 - Australian conglomerate Wesfarmers Ltd beat forecasts with a 53 percent rise in first-half profit, boosted by its A$20 billion ($18 billion) acquisition of the Coles supermarket chain, sending its shares up 8 percent.
Wesfarmers, which typically gives no full-year forecasts, also said it expects to withstand a likely slowdown in consumer spending, helped by resilience in its food and liquor division.
But analysts were cautious on the prospects for overhauling the troubled Coles supermarkets, where sales growth failed to outpace inflation and market share has been lost to larger rival Woolworths Ltd during the protracted one-year takeover.
"The franchise has been damaged. The key problem they have is a lack of foot traffic and I can't see how they can change that," said BT Investment Management analyst Sondal Bensan.
He raised concerns about the increased cost of funding the burdensome debt load that Wesfarmers took on when it bought the group last November in Australia's largest corporate takeover.
Wesfarmers must refinance A$4 billion of debt related to its acquisition by October, but said it had an "excellent" relationship with its banks and expected no problems despite tighter credit markets.
It said it has hedged a "significant" part of its interest costs, but declined to say what the costs were. Funding costs for companies have blown out to record levels since the Wesfarmers arranged financing last June amid a global credit crunch.
Wesfarmers said its net profit before one-off items rose to A$601 million ($551 million) from A$391.9 million a year ago.
That was well above average forecasts of A$387 million in a Reuters poll of seven analysts and above the top end of the poll's range of A$348 million to A$440 million.
CHRISTMAS SALES
Wesfarmers said the profit rise came from the inclusion of a five-week period of earnings from the Coles businesses over the key Christmas season, which contributed A$357 million before interest and tax.
"There was no way of working out how much Coles contributed over a five-week period, and from their most profitable period," said Credit Suisse analyst Andrew McLennan.
For the five-week period, revenues at the Coles division, which includes 748 supermarkets, and the Target and Kmart discount chains, increased 7 percent from a year earlier.
But comparable store sales rose just 2 percent, in line with inflation and implying further market share loss to Woolworths' 770 supermarkets, and smaller independents.
Wesfarmers this month named British retailer Ian McLeod to head the turnaround of the underperforming supermarkets. He will be the sixth boss of the division in five years.
Managing Director Richard Goyder acknowledged there was still "a heck of a lot of work" to be done at Coles, and some restructuring costs would be taken in the second half.
His priorities include improving the quality of fresh fruit, vegetables and meat, refurbishing stores and reducing fluctuations in pricing, where some 2,000 items are discounted each week.
He said all the retail businesses, including the Bunnings hardware store chain, were well positioned for a likely slowdown in discretionary spending.
"We won't be immune from the impact of higher interest rates and fuel costs on consumption," Goyder told reporters.
The Bunnings chain, with 235 stores, saw earnings rise 20.4 percent in the first half. But coal division earnings slumped 33 percent because of lower contracted coal prices and a higher exchange rate.
Wesfarmers shares rose by just over 8 percent to A$38.45 but pared some gains in late trade to end at A$37.91.