Coles back into profit

Supermarket giant Coles has swung its business back into profit growth for the first time in four years after a booming year for the business thanks to coronavirus-fuelled panic buying. The retailer declared a total dividend for the year of 57.5 cents per share, an increase of more than 60 per cent from last year, payable on September 29. Coles is owned by Coles Group. Previously, Coles was owned by corporate giant Wesfarmers. On March 2018, the conglomerate Wesfarmers — which is Australia's largest company in terms of revenue — announced that it was done with Coles and would spin it off into a separate company.