Australian industrial conglomerate Wesfarmers will close its loss-making Catch business, less than five years after buying the online marketplace.
Wesfarmers said Catch would stop trading in the fourth quarter of the 2025 financial year, its e-commerce fulfilment centres would be transferred to the Kmart Group and some digital capabilities would be transferred to Wesfarmers’ retail divisions.
“This will eliminate the losses associated with Catch as a standalone entity and strengthen the retail divisions’ omnichannel offers,” the company said in an ASX announcement.
Wesfarmers expects to record one-off costs of between $50 million and $60 million, including about $25 million to $30 million of non-cash costs, to be included in the results for the second half of the 2025 financial year.
This does not include the Catch’s operating losses from trading in the second half of the 2025 financial year.
Subject to review by the auditor, Catch was expected to report an operating loss before tax of between $38 million and $40 million, for the half-year ended 31 December 2024, excluding the one-off costs.
Managing Director Rob Scott said although Catch’s financial performance had been challenging, Wesfarmers had gained valuable insights and capabilities that accelerated its digital transformation and supported the development of the OnePass membership program.
Since the acquisition of Catch in 2019, Wesfarmers’ retail divisions had recorded more than $3 billion in e-commerce sales and 220 million monthly digital interactions with customers in the 2024 financial year.
Kmart Group Managing Director Ian Bailey said Kmart Group could better utilise Catch’s fulfilment centres, which were less than 50 per cent utilised.
By 11:15 am AEDT (12:15 am GMT) Wesfarmers (ASX: WES) shares had risen 65 cents or 0.91% to $72.39, after trading between $72.09 and $72.76, and capitalising the company at $82.1 billion.