Australian retailer to spend Aus$1bn a year
Australian retail giant Wesfarmers has vowed to spend about Aus$1 billion (£426.4 million) a year over the next few years to revamp Coles.

Speaking on Australian TV at the weekend, Wesfamers chief executive Richard Goyder said: 'A fair bit of that includes some of the supply chain work that's being done and store roll outs across not only supermarkets, but also liquor [stores], Target and Officeworks and then there's some in-store work that needs to be done as well. So it's a significant capital, but it's a very large business.'

Goyder said the gap between Coles and its major rival Woolworths could soon be closed with better execution in stores. He added that when the deal is completed, 70 per cent of the Australian conglomerate's operation would be retail.

Last week, it was revealed that Wesfarmers is set buy retailer Coles Group in a deal worth Aus$22 billion (£9.38 billion), making it Australia's biggest ever takeover.

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