Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci with The Australian's John Durie during the Global Food Forum (Image: Aaron Francis/The Australian)

Woolworths’ Chief Executive Officer has shut-down speculation the supermarket group will be spinning-off its extremely successful Dan Murphy’s liquor chain anytime soon.

Speaking at The Australian Global Food Forum in Melbourne last week, Woolworths CEO Brad Banducci, said there were no plans at this stage to spin-off Dan Murphy’s.

“There is a lot of speculation out there,” said Banducci when confirming whether or not Woolworths would spin-off the chain.

Banducci said “food and drink go very closely together” and that it was because of Australia’s liquor licensing laws alcohol could not be sold within supermarkets like it is in other countries.

The success of Dan Murphy’s

Although other areas of the Woolworths Group have struggled over recent years, Dan Murphy’s has performed well, with Roy Morgan Research releasing data in March 2017 that showed Dan Murphy’s was taking the largest amount of Australia’s retail spend on alcohol.

According to Roy Morgan Research, in 2016 Dan Murphy’s took approximately 30 per cent of the country’s retail spend on liquor.

Overall, the Woolworths Group took a near 50 per cent of share of Australia’s retail alcohol spend in 2016.

Market share over time: supermarket liquor stores’ total alcohol retail share of dollars

Source: Roy Morgan Single Source (Australia), January 2012-December 2016. Base: Australians 18+ who purchased packaged alcohol last 7 days. * NB: Woolworths Group = Woolworths Liquor, BWS and Dan Murphy’s; Coles Group = Liquorland, First Choice and Vintage Cellars.

Related articles

• Supermarkets take most of Australia’s alcohol spend
• Not all liquor stores are created equal: Roy Morgan Research
• Dan Murphy’s continues to dominate liquor retail market 

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