Moody’s revises Woolworths to stable

Moody's Investors Service said it affirmed Woolworths Group Ltd.’s Baa2 issuer rating and senior unsecured rating and changed the outlook to stable from negative.

"The change in outlook to stable reflects the improvement in Woolworths' core Australian Food business; lower losses in the General Merchandise segment; and the strengthening of the company's credit metrics," Moody's vice president and senior credit officer Ian Chitterer said in a news release.

"The results for Australian Food for the first half of fiscal 2018, which ended on 31 December 2017 (1H 2018), show positive trends in comparable store sales and sales per square meter, with EBIT finally returning to growth. EBIT margins also stabilized at around 4.4-4.7% in the last 18 months and we expect this to improve slightly going forward."

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