By Digifin Pty Ltd · About this coverage
Key Points
- Group sales ex tobacco up 2.8% in the first 18 weeks of FY27, up 3.5% including tobacco
- Food sales ex tobacco up 2.6%, Liquor up 0.8%, Total Tools and Hardware up 6.0%
- Food 1H FY27 earnings to be affected by cessation of accelerated tobacco excise, net about $10m
- NZ wholesale liquor business to be exited in early 2H, earnings impact about $2m ex redundancies
- FY26 revenue $19.6bn, Group EBIT $503.7m, underlying profit after tax $268.8m
About Metcash (ASX:MTS)
Metcash Limited is an ASX-listed wholesale distribution and retail services company headquartered in Sydney. It supplies independent supermarkets, including the IGA network, independent liquor retailers through Australian Liquor Marketers, and hardware and tools retailers through the Independent Hardware Group and Total Tools. It operates in Australia and New Zealand.
Metcash Limited (ASX:MTS) has released the Chair's Address and CEO Presentation to be delivered at its 2026 Annual General Meeting, including a trading update covering the first 18 weeks of FY27. Group total sales excluding tobacco rose 2.8%, and 3.5% including tobacco. Food sales excluding tobacco increased 2.6%, and 3.8% including tobacco, with Supermarkets up 2.6% (up 1.3% including tobacco) and Foodservice and Convenience up 2.8% (up 11.3% including tobacco), within which Superior Food rose 2.7% and Campbells and Convenience rose 3.0%. Total tobacco sales were up 11.7% and wholesale price inflation excluding tobacco and produce was 1.5%. Liquor total sales rose 0.8%, with wholesale sales to on-premise customers up 5.1% and Australian wholesale sales to IBA retail and contract customers flat. Total Tools and Hardware sales rose 6.0%, with Total Tools up 9.8% on like-for-like network sales up 3.8%, and Hardware up 5.0% on like-for-like network sales up 5.4%.
Metcash said first half FY27 earnings are expected to be affected by an adverse sales mix in Superior, the removal of the accelerated tobacco excise increase and persistent cost inflation in Food and Liquor. In the Food pillar, the company put the net impact of the cessation of the accelerated tobacco excise at about $10 million in FY27, weighted to the first half. The company said its New Zealand wholesale liquor business is expected to be wound down over the coming months and exited fully in early second half, with an earnings impact of about $2 million excluding redundancies, while the New Zealand retail liquor operations of Allied Retail Group will continue to operate. In the Chair's Address, the company reported FY26 Group revenue of $19.6 billion, up 0.7% and up 3.8% excluding tobacco, Group EBIT of $503.7 million, up 1.6% excluding $12.4 million of strategy and integration costs, operating cash flow of $558 million, underlying profit after tax of $268.8 million, underlying earnings per share of 24.5 cents and total fully franked dividends of 18 cents a share, with leverage of 1.0 times.
Source: Metcash Limited (ASX:MTS), 9 September 2026. Summary content supplied by Digifin Pty Ltd.
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