Woolworths may expand overseas in the coming years. The company which is firmly established in Australia may continue to grow outside this country.
As the Herald Sun reports, Woolworths chief Grant O'Brien says that the company has no plans on the table as this stage, but continues to look at overseas markets.
"We've carefully been looking at international expansion as an option but there's not anything imminent at this particular point in time," Mr O'Brien told the Herald Sun.
"We continue to look but haven't been, and won't be, specific about where we're looking."
Asia would seem the logical place to start such an expansion. While confirming Woolworths has an office in the region, O’Brien made no confirmation that this is where the company is looking.
Woolworths has posted a 2.5 per cent lift in sales to $14.4 billion across its businesses for the 13 weeks to March, compared with the same period last year. The company had a 5.6 per cent spike in quarterly food and liquor sales (excluding Dick Smith Electronics, which was sold in September).
Speculation about Woolworths heading overseas comes at a time when the dominance of Woolworths and Coles in the Australian market is contentious.
However, other attempts to expand supermarket interests overseas, such as British chain Tesco’s expansion into the US, have met with failure.