What is Wesfarmers? Wesfarmers Review

history

Wesfarmers Australia is one of the largest retailers in Australia. It was founded in 1914 and was formerly known as the Western Australian Farmers Cooperative. Its headquarters is located in Perth, Australia. Wesfarmers serves Australia, Bangladesh, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Company Business

Wesfarmers operates 801 Coles supermarkets; 883 liquor stores under the Liquorland, Vintage Cellars and First Choice Liquor brands; 89 hotels; 702 convenience stores; and one online supermarket.

In addition, Wesfarmers provides home, car and owner's insurance products and credit cards; home improvement and outdoor living products under the Bunnings brand (store name) through warehouse stores, small stores, trading centers, frame and truss websites; clothing, home furnishings and general merchandise through 303 Target stores and 220 Kmart stores and online; car service, repair and tyre services through 251 Kmart Tyre & Auto Service centers; and office products and solutions through Officeworks stores.

Wesfarmers also supplies building materials; retails office and technology products; manufactures and supplies ammonia, ammonium nitrate, industrial chemicals, sodium cyanide, polyvinyl chloride resins, and wood-plastic composite decking and screening products; extracts and distributes liquefied petroleum gas and liquefied natural gas; and manufactures, imports and distributes phosphate, nitrogen and potash fertilizers.

Wesfarmers also provides industrial supplies and safety products; offers risk management and compliance services; provides industrial and corporate workwear; distributes industrial gases; and holds interests in the Curragh and Bengalla coal mines.

Development History

In 1914, Westraffia Group was founded as a cooperative company by the Farmers' and Settlers' Association of Western Australia to acquire the assets of the West Australian Producers' Union.

By 1919, over 65 local cooperatives were acting as agents for Westernian Farmers Limited.

In 1924 it established the first public radio station in Western Australia, 6WF, and in 1929 it fell into the hands of the Australian Broadcasting Commission.

1950: Acquired Gascoyne Trading.

In 1977, it began to acquire CSBP. In September 1979, it completed its control. In 1986, it completed the stacking of 100% holding.

In 1984, Westralian Farmers Co-operative Limited formed Wesfarmers Limited, reorganising the co-operative into a public company and listing on the Australian Stock Exchange on 15 November 1984. Initially, the co-operative retained 60% of the common shares, ensuring that the farmer members of the co-operative had control.

In 1985, it acquired shares in Gresham Partners.

In 1987, the company purchased a 10% stake in Bunnings and took control of 100% in 1994.

In 1989, the Western Coal Mine was acquired.

In January 1993, Dalgety Farmers was purchased, but the integration of Wesfarmers and Dalgety Farmers proved more difficult than expected.

Following the merger, the rural agencies and commodities businesses of the two companies became the new Wesfarmers Dalgety until March 2001 when IAMA Limited acquired a stake and the name was changed to Wesfarmers Landmark.

The Australian Railroad Group, a joint venture with Genesee & Wyoming formed in the early 2000s as a result of the purchase of Westrail, was sold to Babcock & Brown and Queensland Rail in 2006.

In 2001, Wesfarmers became a freely listed company with open ownership. After becoming a listed company, Wesfarmers expanded its interests by acquiring other businesses.

In August 2003, Wesfarmers' foundation business was sold to AWB Limited (formerly Australia Wheat Board).

In 2006, the Australian Railway Group was sold.

On July 2, 2007, Wesfarmers announced that it would acquire Coles Supermarkets, the retail business of Coles Group, for A$22 billion. This acquisition became the largest successful acquisition in Australian corporate history. After paying approximately A$20 billion, Wesfarmers officially took control of Coles on November 23, 2007.

In 2009, it completed equity investment of US$4.6 billion.

In 2011, profits were approximately A$1.92 billion and total assets were A$40.8 billion.

In 2012, Wesfarmers Group had revenue of US$58.9 billion, operating income of US$3.55 billion, profit of US$2.13 billion, total assets of US$42.31 billion, total equity of US$25.63 billion, and a total of 220,000 employees.

In February 2016, it acquired British retailer Homebase.

In February 2017, the first Bunnings store in the UK opened.

In May 2018, Wesfarmers announced that it would sell Bunnings' UK business, including the Homebase brand, to private equity firm Hilco Capital.

On August 13, 2018, Continental AG, a German transportation industry manufacturer, the world's third largest tire manufacturer and Europe's largest automotive parts supplier, announced that it would acquire the Kmart Tyre and Auto Service (KTAS) business of Wesfarmers Limited, an Australian retailer, coal and gas distributor, and industrial products distributor, for US$255 million.

In August 2018, Wesfarmers agreed to sell Australia's fourth largest tire retailer Kmart+Tyre+%26+Auto+Service (KTAS) to German company Continental+AG for A$350 million, A$50 million more than market expectations.

In March 2019, Australian listed company Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) made a conditional, non-binding takeover offer of A$1.5 billion (approximately US$1.068 billion) to rare earth mining company Lynas Corp (ASX: LYC), and will acquire Lynas at a price of A$2.25 per share, paid in cash.

In May 2019, Wesfarmers Group (ASX: WES) announced that it had entered into an exclusive due diligence agreement with Kidman Resources (ASX: KDR) and intended to acquire all outstanding shares of Kidman Resources at a cash price of A$1.90 per share through a plan of arrangement.