Anyone notice the exratordinary volumes yesterday? (10/5/2004)

48 million!!!

Many more buys than sells.

That and the price held out only losing a fraction of a penny.

No Easter Eggs in sight in my local store.

May be one reason but............

Any ideas people?

Agreed Oakapples - I love retail shares because you can actually
walk into 'the company' and make your mind up from a far better
informed position than you may have with less accessible companies.
Be Lucky!!

2nd that bunny,.good luck apples,i`am a recent seller,45 1/4 be lucky.

Hot off the press - looks good news people!!!

Woolworths Group PLC
09 July 2004

FORMATION OF NEW JOINT VENTURE
Woolworths Group plc ('Woolworths Group') has today agreed terms for the
formation of a joint venture company with BBC Worldwide Ltd ('BBC Worldwide'),
the consumer commercial arm of the BBC, which will participate in video and
music publishing and TV/video production.

The new venture '2 entertain Limited' will combine the current video and music
publishing and TV/video production businesses of the Woolworths Group
subsidiary, VCI plc, with the video publishing business of BBC Worldwide. BBC
Worldwide is to retain video publishing rights in Music, Educational and
Children's programming. A UK sales and distribution arrangement for BBC
Children's video titles has been agreed with the new venture.

Completion of the transaction is now conditional on certain regulatory and
financing clearances.

On completion, Richard Green, who is currently Managing Director of VCI will be
appointed as Chief Executive of 2 entertain Limited. He will report to a
supervisory board consisting of three representatives from each of the parties
to the joint venture. The three representatives from Woolworths Group will
include Christopher Rogers and Trevor Bish-Jones (Woolworths Group Finance
Director and Chief Executive respectively) and the three representatives from
BBC Worldwide will be Rupert Gavin and David King (Chief Executive and Finance
Director of BBC Worldwide respectively) and Chris Weller (Managing Director,
Consumer Publishing BBC Worldwide). Chris Weller will be the first Chairman of
the Supervisory Board and Executive Chairman of the management team. The equity
split between the joint venture parties is 40% Woolworths Group, and 60% BBC
Worldwide

The combination of the existing strong licence portfolio of VCI, the current BBC
video catalogue and the opportunity to invest in worldwide video rights for new
BBC programming offers the venture a broad base of repertoire sources. The
venture will be well placed to compete in the buoyant DVD market and will enjoy
a strong presence in the market for popular British programmes.

In the year to 31 December 2003, the contribution of VCI plc to the Woolworths
Group profit before interest, tax and exceptional items was 16.2m and its
turnover was 95.0m. On a proforma basis in the year to 31 March 2004 the
turnover and profit of the relevant elements of the video publishing business of
BBC Worldwide were 81.6m and 23.6m respectively. Turnover in the joint
venture vehicle is expected to be in the region of 180.0m by the close of its
first full year of trading. The value of the net assets relating to VCI plc
being transferred into the new joint venture will be approximately 3.0m, and
the combined net assets of 2 entertain Limited post completion will be
approximately 9.0m.

Commenting on the deal Christopher Rogers, Chairman of VCI and Finance Director
of the Woolworths Group, said:

'This is a very exciting development for Woolworths. In creating this joint
venture, we are bringing together two of the most successful players in the home
entertainment market. 2 entertain will be a more broadly based company with a
stronger portfolio of product, providing the opportunity to better capitalise on
the good growth prospects in the home entertainment market, both in the UK and
overseas.'

Rupert Gavin, Chief Executive of BBC Worldwide, said:
'This is good news for the British video industry, for British talent and for
video buyers. The strength of the major TV and film studios can make it
difficult for British production companies to ensure their video properties and
talent get enough access to markets. By combining the scale and expertise of
two successful British distributors in a partnership, we can drive sales
opportunities more strongly and, in the process, also ensure there is greater
consumer choice. '

- Ends -

The joint venture got a mention on channel 4's financial ceefax pages
yesterday - hopefully a couple of the weekend papers may have picked it up
too so that might bring in some renewed interest from private investors...

Edit.

Posted on wrong thread.
Deleted and transferred to the Monday Investors' traders thread.

Melnibone.

Sorry, I've just realised that I've posted this on the wrong thread.

Will transfer it to the Monday investors' trader thread.

Melnibone.

looks like the bishop`s turned the corner,,,well & truly.

Moving in the right direction today - now if it can keep that up
all week that would be impressive.

no doubt bunny this will be moving northwards, but i dont have any,,dam funds.

I didn't realise you had sold out on it - still holding mine,
oh well you could always sell some MTN.....;>)

bunny post 29,,where have you been,your mtn has been on your mind thats it.
any idears what your next buy will be ,as for selling mtn ,,,,,,,,,no chance i no what i want 2.30.

I've got to sit down and think on that Dave, not sure right now where
I want to put the MTN proceeds, will keep you posted.

right oh,good luck.

nice and heavy today for you holders,i mite be looking again soon at this one.
hope the price stays flat,but i can`t see it .

Once the 10/10 refits are out of the way there may be a change upward, but for the next 6 months, more of the same I think.

well thats a shock seawall ,,my be a good chance of a cheap buy .

I am usually wrong.............

strange one this wlw,just look at there position ,brand name. i think they my be just selling the wrong stuff ?.

Possibly.

Years ago things were different, but that was before Kingfisher interferred.

The range is somewhat different now, and I personnaly feel they do not do much outside of DVD's and the like.

Nowadays they tend to be seasonal other than that, so over a long period of years they can see what they have done and how things are going.

What else can they do though?

Most of there stores are in places where the punters walk into and out of, apart from the Big W. That limits what they can sell that's portable. they may do well to sell online like Argos.

I like the shares, but did not bother this time as the price did not go low enough for a buy in.

May buy in for the christamas results, which will show a profit and may be more exciting but that would be a short holding.

You seem to be doing well with other areas, whereas I am sitting on Oil & Gas mainly at the moment.

8 September 2004

Woolworths Group plc
Interim Results Announcement
For the 26 weeks ended 31 July 2004

Financial Performance

- First half loss (before tax and goodwill amortisation) reduced by
5.7% to 32.9m (H1 2003: 34.9m), which includes 3.5m of costs
associated with the 10/10 refit programme
- First half loss before tax reduced by 5.5% to 34.4m (H1 2003:
36.4m)
- Group sales up by 5.9% to 1,110.8m (H1 2003: 1,049.4m)
- Like-for-like sales at Woolworths Mainchain up 0.5% and by 0.4% at
Woolworths big W
- Woolworths gross margin improved by 60 basis points
- 8.3% increase in interim dividend to 0.39p per share (H1 2003:
0.36p)
- Significant increase in capital expenditure to 39.8m (H1 2003:
23.8m) driven by investment in 10/10 stores and the accelerated
rollout of the Kingstore till system
- Net debt for the period down to 131.8m (H1 2003: 142.9m)

Operational Highlights

- 40 stores trading in the 10/10 format, representing approximately
8% of Mainchain space
- Kingstore system in 550 stores by half-year; rollout complete by
mid October
- Continued product and range development driving margin growth
- Christmas planning well advanced, with set up three weeks earlier
than last year
- Review of big W sites making good progress
- EUK contract renewed with Tesco and WH Smith signed as new third
party customer
- VCI/BBC Worldwide Joint Venture announced

Trevor Bish-Jones, Chief Executive of Woolworths Group plc commented:

"In the first six months of this financial year, the Group has
continued to make progress, with better systems, better buying and
cost control underpinning the improvement in our margin. We are well
placed to continue to deliver an improved performance over the key
Christmas trading period and have a successful store investment
programme in place which will drive growth in the business over the
medium term".


For further information contact:

Christopher Rogers, Finance Director
020 7706 5883

Nicole Lander, Corporate Affairs
020 7706 5653

Kate Inverarity, Tulchan Communications
020 7353 4200

Alexia Latham, Tulchan Communications
020 7353 4200

To download the full Interim Results Announcement in Adobe PDF or
Microsoft Word visit:
http://www.woolworthsgroupplc.com/investors/reports_results.htm

Our website address is:
http://www.woolworthsgroupplc.com


The key words for me are "..over the medium term" I am not excited!