Coles shares closed 7.7% lower on Friday 30 October after the supermarket group said first-half earnings from its Supermarkets division would be flat, a day after Woolworths reported faster growth in food sales.
The stock finished at $21.66, down $1.80, at the 4:00pm close on 30 October, according to the Coles Group share price page.
A Heavy Day on the ASX
Coles opened 6.9% lower at $21.83 and fell as much as 12.7% by 10:24am AEDT, Market Index reported. About $3.5 billion was wiped off its market value in early trading, according to The Sydney Morning Herald.
The fall followed the company’s first-quarter sales update, which covered the 13 weeks from 29 June to 27 September 2026.
Coles now expects first-half Supermarkets EBIT to be in line with the prior corresponding period, Business News Australia reported. Market Index put it flat at about $1.23 billion, roughly 7% below UBS forecasts.
The Quarter Against Woolworths
Group sales rose 2.2% to $11.2 billion in the quarter, and Supermarkets sales rose 3.6% to $10.3 billion, according to Business News Australia. Comparable sales growth slowed to 2.7%, from 4.6% a year earlier.
Woolworths reported its own first-quarter figures on Thursday 29 October. Its sales rose 4.7% to $19.4 billion, and Australian Food sales were up 6.9% to $14.8 billion, Business News Australia reported.
Online sales kept growing. Supermarkets eCommerce sales rose 22.9% to $1.623 billion, and penetration reached 15.7%, up from 13.3%.
Liquor went the other way. Sales fell 1.3% to $831 million, a sixth straight quarterly fall, Business News Australia reported.
Supermarket price inflation eased to 1.1% from 1.6%, or 1% excluding tobacco. Coles opened eight supermarkets in the quarter, taking its total to 878.
Promotions, Prices and Fuel
Coles pointed to cost-of-living pressure, heavier promotions from competitors and higher fuel costs, Business News Australia reported.
“Continued geopolitical uncertainty has also resulted in an increase in fuel prices over the last two months and we are expecting to incur additional fuel-related costs in the first half compared to the prior corresponding period,” the company said in its release.
Supermarket sales growth moderated in the first four weeks of the second quarter, Market Index reported.
At its FY26 result on 25 August, Coles had said, according to Market Index: “We enter FY27 in a strong position, with supermarkets having gained market share and significantly improved customer satisfaction scores over the past year.”
Woolworths, meanwhile, has invested more than $100 million in cutting prices over the past year, the Herald reported.
The price fight has a political side as well. On 6 October, Buzzline reported on a Greens think tank’s pitch for a $25 billion public supermarket chain.
Shoppers Are Shopping Around
“While Supermarkets sales growth remained in line with the prior quarter, we know household budgets are under pressure and customers are shopping more deliberately across retailers and channels,” Coles chief executive Leah Weckert said in the release.
She added: “There is more to do to ensure we are front of mind for customers in this environment, and we are taking action to sharpen our offer over the coming months.”
“Customers are really feeling the pressure on their household budgets,” Weckert said on a media call following the results, the Herald reported.
Weckert said shoppers were comparing prices in new ways. “We know a lot of our customers are now using AI tools, they’re using price comparison apps, even using social media as forces to try and work out where is the cheapest place to buy things,” she said.
“We can’t even keep up with canned sardines demand at the moment,” Weckert said.
What the Analysts Said
“The downgrade appears to be driven by price investment as supermarket sales have clearly been impacted by Woolworths’ pricing strategies,” Citi analyst Adrian Lemme said, according to the Herald.
According to Market Index, Jefferies analyst Michael Simotas said “price investment is required, which combined with operating deleverage and higher fuel costs implies a meaningful consensus downgrade.”
RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner called the update “disappointing”, the Herald reported.
Price Cuts Before Christmas
Coles is relaunching its Every Day Price program, Market Index reported.
Australian Bureau of Statistics figures released in the days before 30 October showed prices up 4.3% in the 12 months to September, the Herald reported.
The Reserve Bank decides on interest rates on Tuesday 3 November, according to Market Index. Buzzline reported on 23 October that Jim Chalmers had flagged weaker growth and higher unemployment as markets eyed a November rate rise.
More company and market news is in Buzzline’s Business section.
Sources: Coles Group, “Share price”, as at 4:00pm 30 October 2026 (https://www.colesgroup.com.au/investors/?page=share-price); Business News Australia, “Coles shares down 11pc as liquor sales dip for a sixth quarter and supermarket earnings flatten out”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.businessnewsaustralia.com/amp-html/articles/coles-liquor-sales-slide-for-sixth-straight-quarter-as-grocer-flags-flat-supermarket-earnings.html); Market Index, “Coles shares tumble as flat 1H27 Supermarkets earnings miss forecasts by 7%”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.marketindex.com.au/news/coles-shares-tumble-as-flat-1h27-supermarkets-earnings-miss-forecasts-by-7); The Sydney Morning Herald, “Billions wiped off Coles as it loses ground to Woolworths”, 30 October 2026 (https://www.smh.com.au/business/companies/billions-wiped-off-coles-as-it-loses-ground-to-woolworths-20261030-p619zx.html)
Photo: Orderinchaos, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
The entrance to the Coles supermarket in Warwick, Western Australia, photographed in February 2020.
