How did the Woolworths Group Ltd (ASX: WOW) share price perform over the first quarter of the 2022 financial year? As you probably know, we run on a 'July to June' financial year here in Australia. That means the first 3-month quarter of the financial year runs from 1 July to 30 September.
Well, that's the quarter we've officially just finished up with. So how did Woolworths go?
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Woolworths share price has strong start to FY22
Well, let's first start off with the broader S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO). It turns out that the ASX 200 had a pretty uneventful quarter, just going on the numbers. It started the financial year at 7,313 points, and finished up at 7,332.2 points on Thursday. That puts its quarterly performance at a gain of 0.26%. Not terrible, but nothing to write home about, one could say.
So let's get to the Woolworths share price. Woolies started the financial year at a share price of $38.13. On Thursday, Woolworths shares closed at $39.13, up exactly $1 as it turns out. That puts the company's quarterly performance at 2.62%, a lot healthier than the ASX 200.
It's the first full quarter Woolworths has had since the supermarket giant spun out its drinks and liquor division as Endeavour Group Ltd (ASX: EDV) in late June. This would have helped pad out the returns of any Woolworths shareholders who have owned the company since before the spin-off. That's because Endeavour shares have fared even better than Woolworths over the quarter just gone, rising by almost 11%.
Woolworths delivered its well-received FY21 earnings report during the quarter, back in August to be specific. Back on 26 August, the company announced sales growth of 5.7% to $67.28 billion and an increase in earnings before interest and tax of 13.7% to $3.66 billion.
Woolies also flagged a dividend increase for the company's final dividend for FY21, which will come in at 55 cents per share. Investors will receive this payout on 8 October. In addition, Woolworths announced a $2 billion off-market share buyback program, which was also well-received from investors at the time.
