New Endeavour Group CEO Jayne Hrdlicka has hit the ground running, delivering record sales results for Dan Murphy’s and BWS during December.

Hrdlicka’s focus on competitive pricing to improve retail performance for the group resulted in Dan Murphy’s biggest ever trading weeks leading into both Christmas and New Year’s Eve, with Christmas Eve setting a new daily sales record.

During the first half of FY26, total retail sales at Endeavour Group increased by 0.3% to $5.5 billion, with the company reporting sales momentum improving in Q2.

H1 F26 sales for Dan Murphy’s and BWS increased by 0.7% to $5.4 billion. Since the start of September, Endeavour Group said Dan Murphy’s and BWS have together delivered four consecutive months of sales growth.

“The pricing and promotional decisions we have made in our retail business have generated positive sales results, delivering on our aim to better align the customer propositions for each of our brands to re-ignite top line growth,” Hrdlicka (above) said.

“In a competitive market landscape, we have focused on reinforcing customer confidence in the value we offer across all channels, particularly in Dan Murphy’s unbeatable price and customer experience.

“A key step to realising the potential of our retail brands is improving sales momentum, and as the first half progressed we made a number of decisions to improve customer engagement and generate higher sales velocity, including investment in lower shelf prices. We are very pleased with the speed of customer reaction to our shelf price and targeted promotional activity, highlighting the strength in both retail brands.

“This year, guided by our refreshed strategy, we will begin to put in place a range of initiatives that will help to improve the sophistication of our in-store price execution, further improve our in-store and online customer impact as well as add to our cost reduction agenda.

“It will take time for these initiatives to be implemented and for the full benefits to be realised. We will elaborate more on this at our H1 results presentation in March and at our subsequent Investor Day. In the meantime, we will remain focused on ensuring our shelf prices reflect the best value in the market for Dan Murphy’s, both in-store and on-line.”

Analysts give their verdict on results

But the decision to put sales ahead of profit has come at a price. The Australian reported that Endeavour Group’s profit guidance was “below analyst expectations, around 10% below RBC Capital Markets’ forecast and 7.5% off consensus estimates”.

“In the face of structural top line challenges and aggressive price competition in the retail liquor space, Dan’s has pulled the price lever to reinforce its value proposition, leading to group EBIT margins missing RBC estimates,” said RBC Capital Markets analyst Michael Toner in a note to investors.

Citi analyst Sam Teeger said despite improving sales trends, questions remain as to what sustainable profit margins look like for the sector moving forward and if competitors such as Coles would follow the heavy discounting. Citi has a $3.92 target price on Endeavour Group.

Craig Woolford from MST Marquee told clients: “Given the changeover to a new CEO and emphasis on both price leadership and improved execution in Dan Murphy’s, the share price reaction could be smaller than the likely consensus revisions as investors gauge the turnaround opportunity.”

Tom Kierath, an analyst at Barrenjoey, described the update on Tuesday as “disappointing” given it was well below the market’s profit expectation of $438 million primarily because of “elevated promotional intensity”.

Shares in Endeavour Group closed at $3.70 down 11c.

Citi analysts call for Pinnacle Drinks spin-off

Citi analyst Sam Teeger has written to clients suggesting the strategy review Hrdlicka is currently understaking at Endeavour Group should include selling its wineries or restructure its Pinnacle exclusive and owned brands business.

Barossa-based Dorrien Winery creates wines under the Pinnacle Drinks portfolio while Paragon Wine Estates labels include Chapel Hill, Oakridge, Isabel Estate, Krondorf, Riddoch, Shingleback, Josef Chromy and Cape Mentelle.

“We see merit in Endeavour going one step further from its strategic pause in Pinnacle investment … and exiting the operation entirely,” he said.

“The oversupply of wine in Australia, combined with the inventory-heavy nature of the business, makes us question how sustainable Pinnacle returns can be, and we would prefer to see Endeavour deploying its capital in higher-returning pub refurbishments.”

While Pinnacle makes up about 18% of Endeavour Group’s sales, MST Marquee analyst Craig Woolford said he felt it would be hard to sell.

“Hrdlicka might want to sell Pinnacle, but it would be a challenging business to sell,” he said. “Treasury Wines looked to sell some of its wine brands and really had trouble.”

Executive shake-up for ALH

H1 FY26 hotel sales for Endeavour Group increased by 4.4% to $1.2 billion, however the company announced that ALH Hotels Managing Director Paul Carew will step down from his role in January after just 10 months in the role to pursue other career opportunities.

It follows Endeavour Group announcing in November that Dan Murphy’s Managing Director Agi Pfeiffer-Smith and four other senior executives were stepping down.

Paul Walton, Director of Pinnacle Drinks, has assumed the role of ALH Hotels Managing Director on an interim basis. Walton previously served as interim Managing Director of ALH Hotels for two years and an executive search is underway for a permanent appointee to the position.

Endeavour Group released a succinct statement that said: “The CEO and Board express their thanks to Paul Carew for his leadership of ALH Hotels during his time at Endeavour Group.”

The company said sales growth for hotels in Q2 was driven by an uplift in gaming, strong results from refurbished venues and positive trends in food and bar transactions. Hotels delivered its strongest monthly sales result ever in December, supported by record sales in the week leading up to Christmas as well as record sales for food, bar and accommodation on New Year’s Eve.

“The holiday spirit across our Hotels business was exceptional, enabling strong results,” Hrdlicka said.

“There is a lot to play for in our hotels portfolio and we are excited by the opportunity to create additional value as we begin to roll out the refreshed strategy. I look forward to updating the market with further detail on our plans later this year.”