COL -coles

 COL Coles

05 july 2026

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Over the last 5 years, Coles Group (ASX: COL) has delivered stable, defensive, and slow-growth performance. Net profit has remained anchored around $1.0B to $1.1B annually, revenue has grown steadily to $44B, debt remains highly leveraged due to long-term lease liabilities, and ROE has consistently hovered between 26% and 37%. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

A breakdown of the key financial metrics over the past five years highlights specific trends:

1. Revenue and Profit

• Revenue: Grew steadily from $39.4 billion in FY2021, hovering around $44.5 billion heading into 2026, driven by consistent supermarket and e-commerce sales. [1, 2, 3, 4]
• Net Profit (NPAT): Remained firmly resilient but largely flat. After-tax profit fluctuated in a tight range: peaking at $1.12 billion in FY2024 and landing at $1.08 billion in FY2025. Coles posted about $1.01B in profit over the trailing 12 months, impacted by normalization from previous years. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]
• Margins: Profit margins remained characteristically thin but stable, with net profit margins sitting between 2.4% and 2.7%. [1]

2. Debt

• Debt to Equity: Appears very high, generally ranging between 228% and 272%. However, this is largely attributed to retail property/store lease liabilities (which are counted as debt under AASB 16 accounting standards) rather than aggressive corporate borrowing. [1, 3, 4, 5]

3. Return on Equity (ROE) & Financial Health

• ROE: Historically high and excellent for a defensive retailer, consistently averaging between 26% and 35%. It peaked at around 37% in FY2021 and was recorded at 26.5% heading into early 2026. [1, 2]
• Cash Flow: The company generates strong, reliable operating cash flow and free cash flow (consistently over $1.1 billion annually), allowing for stable and growing dividend distributions. [1]

4. Share Price & Dividends

• Share Performance: Market valuation has remained robust. The share price has generally climbed, pushing past the $23 to $24 mark by mid-2026, with a solid dividend yield generally hovering near the 3.0% to 3.5% range. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

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PE Ratios

The mean historical Price-to-Earnings (P/E) ratio of Coles Group Limited (ASX: COL) since its listing is 20.48x, while its current trailing twelve months (TTM) P/E ratio sits significantly higher at 30.63x. [1, 2]

Because Coles Group was spun off from Wesfarmers and re-listed as an independent entity on the ASX in November 2018, independent 10-year historical data does not exist prior to that date. [1]

Historical P/E Ratio Breakdown

The table below tracks the independent fiscal year-end or calendar year-end P/E ratios for ASX:COL:

Year [1, 2, 3, 5]	P/E Ratio	Valuation Context
2026 (Current TTM)	30.63x	Driven by a strong rally in share price ($23.28) outpacing short-term EPS.
2025	27.2x	Reflects premium valuation multiples as defensive consumer staples became highly favored.
2024	20.3x	Normalized closer to Coles' long-term average trading band.
2023	21.6x	Modest multiple expansion balancing post-pandemic supply chain adjustments.
2022	20.5x	Stabilized valuation inline with historical baseline averages.
2021	21.1x	Elevated demand metrics from pandemic-driven grocery volume spikes.
2020	17.4x	Early independent trading year normalization patterns.
2019	6.36x	All-time low right after the corporate spin-off due to initial restructuring distortions.
2016 – 2018	N/A	Coles operated internally under parent company Wesfarmers Ltd.

Peer and Market Benchmark Comparisons

To put Coles' current 30.7x P/E ratio into perspective against competitors and the broader Australian market:

• Industry Average: The global and local consumer retailing industry averages approximately 16.1x.
• Direct Competitor: Wesfarmers Ltd sits closely at 31.9x.
• The Broader Market: The overall ASX Market P/E Ratio historically averages a much lower 17.2x. [1, 2, 3]

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