The Wesfarmers Ltd (ASX: WES) share price will be one to watch when trading resumes this Monday. That's after the retail conglomerate reopened its Bunnings and Officeworks stores in some parts of Sydney.
At the close of trade on Friday, shares in the company were trading for $57.78 – down 0.07%. The S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) meanwhile ended the day 0.5% higher.
Let's take a closer look at today's news.
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Bunnings, Officeworks to reopen in parts of Sydney
From today, Wesfarmers hardware and office supplies stores that are not located in the 12 local government areas (LGAs) of concern, as defined by the New South Wales government, will reopen in line with COVID-19 regulations. These hotspot LGAs are predominately located in Sydney's western, southwestern, and southern suburbs.
Wesfarmers highlighted the growing number of NSW residents who have received either one or two doses of the Pfizer or AstraZeneca jab. At the time of writing, 73.5% of the state's eligible population has received at least one dose. Nearly 41% are fully inoculated.
"Since the start of the pandemic, the safety of our team and customers has been at the core of everything we do and we continue to follow government guidance in all the states and territories where we operate," said Mike Schneider, Bunnings managing director.
"The acceleration of the vaccine rollout and the increase in opportunities for our team to get vaccinated has given us the confidence to reopen our stores in Greater Sydney, with strong COVID-safe protocols in place, including a one per 10 metre density limit applied."
It will be interesting to see what this will mean for the Wesfarmers share price.
Stores within hotspot LGAs will still be open for contactless click and collect only, as well as trade customers in the case of Bunnings. Wesfarmers will keep Target and Kmart stores closed across Greater Sydney, in line with government regulations.
Wesfarmers share price snapshot
Over the past 12 months, the Wesfarmers share price has increased 25.6%. That's only slightly below the ASX 200 Index's performance over that time. Year to date, Wesfarmers shares have appreciated 12.2%. This is roughly in line with the 200 largest companies on the ASX.
Wesfarmers has a market capitalisation of approximately $66 billion.
