Sydney, Feb 20, 2026, 17:32 AEDT — Market’s done for the day.
- Wesfarmers dropped 0.3% to finish at A$83.99 on Friday, following a sharp drop the day before.
- The group bumped up its interim profit and hiked the interim dividend to A$1.02 per share.
- Planned price cuts, margins, and the dividend schedule set for next week are drawing investors’ attention.
Wesfarmers closed out Friday at A$83.99, slipping another 0.3%. That adds to Thursday’s 5.6% tumble after results hit. Shares are set to go ex-dividend Feb. 24.
Wesfarmers stands out as a key barometer for the state of Australian households. Bunnings and Kmart, right at the heart of that narrative, have started trading as if the market expects “good businesses, harder year”.
The timing? Right in the middle of reporting season, when investors tend to react sharply to any whiff of slowing growth. Wesfarmers delivered steady first-half results—solid enough. But there’s not much reassurance looking ahead to the coming six months.
Wesfarmers posted a first-half net profit after tax of A$1.6 billion, a 9.3% increase, and announced a fully franked interim dividend of A$1.02 per share—so shareholders get the benefit of Australian tax credits. Kmart Group’s EBIT came in at A$733 million for the period. WesCEF, meanwhile, lifted its EBIT to A$210 million. The company’s dividend record date falls on Feb. 25, with payment set for March 31.
Even so, management took a reserved stance looking ahead. CEO Rob Scott highlighted patchy consumer spending and flagged that inflation was “impacting the cost of living,” adding that uncertainty over inflation and interest rates was weighing on sentiment. To hang onto customers, the group pushed through price cuts—offset in part by productivity gains and broader use of artificial intelligence. Brokers, meanwhile, noted the profit beat was propped up more by lithium exposure than by the core retail operation. https://www.reuters.com/business/australia…
Analysts zeroed in on valuation on Friday. UBS stuck with Neutral, targeting A$90. Morgans, holding its Trim rating, nudged its price target up to A$80.50. Over at JPMorgan, analysts left their Underweight in place and set a A$72 target, saying the result reflected strength in lower-quality segments, not the core.
Wesfarmers CFO Anthony Gianotti told reporters in a separate Friday interview that the company’s priority is still productivity—he wants to “reinvest[ing] productivity gains back into delivering lower prices.” Lithium, he said, is “just at the start of the… journey.” Gianotti also flagged fresh partnerships with Microsoft and Google, moves meant to speed up Wesfarmers’ push into AI. https://www.livewiremarkets.com/wires/stro…
Traders now want to see if price investments can hold up volumes without putting too much squeeze on margins. If discounting starts to look more like a battle than a strategy, the stock could stay under pressure.
If consumers pull back even more, retailers could see margins squeezed, and lithium profits might lose steam right when the market is hungry for clear signs of retail strength. Stubborn cost inflation, or rates refusing to budge lower, would put Wesfarmers’ “resilience” valuation under real pressure.
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