Wesfarmers (ASX:WES) closed at A$80.62 on Dec 12, 2025. Here’s the latest news, filings, analyst targets, and what to watch before the next ASX session.
Wesfarmers Limited (ASX:WES) finished Friday’s session modestly lower, even as the broader Australian market put on a surprisingly festive “Santa rally” outfit.
At the close on Friday, 12 December 2025, Wesfarmers shares ended at A$80.62, down about 0.49% on the day after trading between roughly A$80.48 and A$81.40. [1]
That slight dip stood out mainly because the S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.23% to 8,697.3—a strong risk-on day driven by big moves elsewhere (materials and financials did the heavy lifting). [2]
So what happened “after the bell,” and what should investors keep in mind heading into the next session?
Wesfarmers share price recap: what WES did on Dec. 12, 2025
Here are the key end-of-day numbers investors were working with after the close:
- Close: A$80.62 [3]
- Day change: about -A$0.40 (-0.49%) [4]
- Day range:A$80.48 to A$81.40 [5]
- Volume (reported): about 882k shares [6]
- Relative performance callout: MarketIndex listed Wesfarmers among the day’s “worst blue chip losers,” though the drop was only about half a percent. [7]
Zooming out slightly, MarketIndex also showed Wesfarmers down around 1.1% over one month and up about 10.6% over one year at Friday’s pricing. [8]
Why WES fell on a day the ASX rose
The honest answer: Friday looked more like light rotation than a company-specific shock.
MarketIndex’s wrap framed the session as a broad surge for the ASX 200 (+1.23%), while consumer discretionary finished slightly negative—a headwind for a stock like Wesfarmers that sits squarely in the “household spending + home improvement” gravitational field (Bunnings, Kmart, Officeworks). [9]
Just as importantly: Wesfarmers’ ASX announcements log doesn’t show a fresh, price-sensitive filing dated Dec. 12. The most recent items sitting near the top of the list were:
- 2025 Tax Contribution Report (11.12.25)
- Change of Director’s Interest Notice – B English (10.12.25) [10]
That matters because when a mega-cap dips on a strong index day without a new headline, the explanation is often mundane: positioning, sector flows, or investors choosing to chase whatever was sprinting (gold names and banks, according to the day’s market wrap). [11]
The big Wesfarmers headline in the Dec. 12 news cycle: CEO commentary on productivity, AI, and expansion
While there wasn’t an obvious “ASX surprise” on Dec. 12, there was a notable piece of leadership commentary circulating.
In an interview-style report published on Dec. 12, Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott described Australia as being at a “tipping point” heading into 2026, highlighting domestic cost pressures (energy, wages, compliance, logistics) and urging broader reform. The piece also described Wesfarmers pushing harder on technology and supply-chain automation, scaling AI use across the business, and assessing growth options including Anko Global and lithium. [12]
For investors, this kind of commentary tends to land in two buckets:
- The “execution upside” bucket: productivity gains, better inventory, fewer out-of-stocks, faster fulfillment—retail nerd stuff that can quietly move margins over time.
- The “easy-to-say, hard-to-deliver” bucket: scaling AI and automation across complex retail operations is real work, not a press-release hobby.
Either way, it’s relevant context when Wesfarmers trades at a valuation that implies the market expects ongoing operational excellence (more on that below).
What the latest filings added: the 2025 Tax Contribution Report
Although it wasn’t dated Dec. 12, the newest substantial company document in the immediate lead-up was Wesfarmers’ 2025 Tax Contribution Report (lodged as an ASX announcement on 11 December 2025). [13]
Key points investors pulled from it:
- Wesfarmers said it contributed A$1.6 billion in “government taxes and other charges” in 2025. [14]
- It reported an effective company tax rate for Australian operations of 30.6% excluding significant items, and 28.3% including significant items. [15]
- The report referenced Wesfarmers maintaining a high assurance rating under the ATO’s “justified trust” program and reiterated its participation in Australia’s voluntary Tax Transparency Code. [16]
This isn’t the kind of document that usually moves a share price intraday. But it does matter for long-horizon investors because it touches governance, compliance posture, and how “clean” the earnings base is—especially when markets are jumpy about regulatory risk.
Recent capital return and special dividend: still part of the December backdrop
Another reason December 2025 trading in WES can look a bit “mechanical” is that shareholders have just come through a significant capital management event.
Wesfarmers’ 2025 capital management initiative included:
- a capital return of A$1.10 per share, and
- a fully franked special dividend of A$0.40 per share,
with payments and related shareholder communications around 4 December 2025. [17]
The ASX documentation for the dividend/distribution spells out key timetable details such as ex-date (5 Nov 2025), record date (6 Nov 2025) and payment date (4 Dec 2025). [18]
Why mention it now, after the bell on Dec. 12? Because large distributions can temporarily affect:
- reinvestment flows (e.g., dividend investment plans),
- short-term positioning,
- and how investors “mentally anchor” fair value (some anchor to pre-return prices, some to post-return). [19]
Wesfarmers valuation snapshot (as of Dec. 12 levels)
One clean way to understand why WES often trades like a “quality compounder” and a “bond proxy” at the same time: the size and the multiple.
A market data snapshot pegged Wesfarmers at roughly:
- Market cap: ~A$91.5 billion
- P/E ratio: ~31.25
- Revenue: ~A$45.7 billion [20]
A P/E around the low 30s is not “cheap retailer” territory. That kind of multiple usually implies the market expects durable earnings, strong cash generation, and continued execution, especially from the biggest engines (Bunnings and Kmart Group) while newer bets (health, lithium exposure) mature.
Analyst forecasts: consensus targets cluster near Friday’s close, but the range is wide
Analyst forecasting for Wesfarmers looks… politely conflicted.
A consensus summary based on 13 analysts listed:
- Average 12‑month price target: ~80.82
- High estimate:100
- Low estimate:58
- Consensus rating: “Sell” (with a split of 1 Buy / 6 Hold / 6 Sell in that dataset). [21]
With WES closing at A$80.62, that average target implies analysts (as a group) see the stock as roughly fairly priced—but with unusually wide disagreement about how much upside (or downside) the business deserves. [22]
Adding to the mix, some market commentary earlier in December pointed to more optimistic targets (for example, one report cited a UBS target of A$90), while other commentary flagged limited upside around the low A$80s. (These are secondary reports of broker targets, not the broker notes themselves—useful for sentiment, not gospel.) [23]
What to know before “market open” on Dec. 13, 2025
Here’s the slightly mischievous twist: Dec. 13, 2025 is a Saturday, so the ASX is closed. There is no official “next open” until Monday, Dec. 15.
Still, investors often use the weekend window to set their “Monday morning checklist.” For Wesfarmers, the most practical things to monitor are:
1) Macro signals that feed directly into retail margins and demand
Wesfarmers lives at the intersection of household budgets, housing activity, and input costs.
MarketIndex’s Friday wrap published:
- AUD/USD around 0.6666, and
- U.S. index futures close to flat (small moves),
which matters because currency swings can influence import costs and pricing pressure across retail over time. [24]
Separately, Reuters reporting this week referenced the Reserve Bank of Australia holding rates at 3.6%, while noting ongoing risks around inflation and broader economic uncertainty. That rate backdrop matters for discretionary spend and housing-linked categories. [25]
2) Watch for any late-Friday or weekend corporate/regulatory headlines
Even when WES itself is quiet, headlines tied to its major brands (especially Kmart and Bunnings) can change the mood quickly.
There was no obvious Dec. 12 “shock filing” on the company’s announcement log, but investors will still want to scan for:
- consumer confidence updates,
- retail sales read-throughs (if any land),
- and any regulatory developments that touch big-box retail.
3) Keep next key company date on the radar: February results
Wesfarmers’ investor calendar lists the FY2026 half-year results announcement and briefing on 19.02.26. [26]
That’s not “tomorrow morning,” but markets often start positioning weeks ahead—especially if the stock is trading on a premium multiple.
4) Re-check post-distribution “normalization”
With the early-December capital return/special dividend now in the rear-view mirror, the question becomes: does trading in WES revert to being driven mainly by operations and macro… or do you still see after-effects in flows and reinvestment? [27]
The setup in one line
After the bell on Dec. 12, Wesfarmers looked like a classic “mega-quality” ASX name having a mildly soft day without a fresh company-specific catalyst, while investors chased stronger-moving parts of the market. The weekend “pre-open” homework is less about decoding Friday’s half-percent dip—and more about tracking macro signals, watching for headlines, and keeping valuation expectations realistic as the next earnings waypoint approaches. [28]
References
1. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 2. www.marketindex.com.au, 3. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 4. www.marketindex.com.au, 5. finance.yahoo.com, 6. finance.yahoo.com, 7. www.marketindex.com.au, 8. www.marketindex.com.au, 9. www.marketindex.com.au, 10. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 11. www.news.com.au, 12. www.theaustralian.com.au, 13. company-announcements.afr.com, 14. company-announcements.afr.com, 15. company-announcements.afr.com, 16. company-announcements.afr.com, 17. company-announcements.afr.com, 18. company-announcements.afr.com, 19. company-announcements.afr.com, 20. stockanalysis.com, 21. www.investing.com, 22. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 23. www.fool.com.au, 24. www.marketindex.com.au, 25. www.reuters.com, 26. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 27. www.wesfarmers.com.au, 28. www.marketindex.com.au
