Endeavour Group, which owns the Dan Murphy's and BWS networks and hundreds of pubs and hotels across Australia, is fighting for market share on a low shelf price strategy.
"You can see in the underlying numbers the momentum that's building in a softer consumer environment," chief executive Jayne Hrdlicka, who joined the company in January, told an earnings briefing on Monday.
"The growth that we're enjoying is coming principally from Gen X, Gen Z and Millennials and so we're seeing younger generations now participating in our stores than they were before."
But the outlook for consumer spending remains uncertain as higher interest rates and inflation, cost of living pressures and the conflict in the Middle East continue to weigh.
Endeavour Group made a bottom line net profit of $52 million for the year ended June 28, a fall of almost 90 per cent.
But the 2025/26 result was skewed by a one-off $311 million post-tax expense related to the writedown of assets and costs related to its strategy.
It that's taken out, its profit came to $363 million, a fall of almost 15 per cent, after a 1.3 per cent lift in sales to $12.2 billion.
Ms Hrdlicka said the results reflected a "year of multiple parts" but the group was "in it to win it".
"The investment in price is evident, not only in the green shoots demonstrated by the above market retail revenue growth, but also in the gross margin impact," she added.
Endeavour shares were down almost four per cent in early afternoon trading to $3.26.
The retail bottleshops business generated $10 billion in sales, up 0.7 per cent, with Dan Murphy's contributing most of that with a sales gain of one per cent.
But Endeavour's retail gross profit margin declined by 80 basis points on the back of the lower shelf prices strategy, which began in the first quarter of 2025/26.
"In Dans, we have returned our focus to delivering unbeatable value for our customers and this has clearly resonated, delivering both sales growth and market share gains," Ms Hrdlicka.
At BWS, the group offers an app that now has more than 730,000 active monthly users, up 15 per cent on the prior year, and more than half of those users are Gen Z and Millennials.
In contrast, its hotels business - offering food, beverages, accommodation and gaming - generated $2.2 billion in sales, up 4.2 per cent, with Ms Hrdlicka adding that gaming revenue has moderated in line with market trends.
Ms Hrdlicka's reset of both businesses still has a way to go, but she said the first seven weeks of the new 2026/27 year had been positive so far, despite softer consumer sentiment.
The retail arm delivered 4.6 per cent sales growth, while the hotels business generated 2.2 per cent growth.
"Overall, the outlook for consumer spending remains uncertain," Ms Hrdlicka cautioned, as Endeavour heads toward the Christmas and New Year period.
Endeavour has maintained its goal to take out $300 million in costs by 2028/29, including $100 million in the new financial year.
It declared a final dividend of 1.2 cents, taking the total for the year to 12 cents.
