the turnaround we had to have

Lets be for real here about WES. I love them and what they do, but the timing on Coles was all wrong.

That is history now, but really they stuffed that up and it just made all the numbers a little less juicy.

They have always been a business that generated excess cash and often had the excellent problem of what do with the funds. They have in their history made big strategic bets and got it right in a similar fashion to News Corp, but without the craziness and near death experience.

I agree that Woolies executives sleep less well these days with a competitor as formidable as WES. It also highlights how crappy the previous leadership team was at Coles Group. Especially he who shall not be named, but suffice to say doesnt enjoy pushing a shopping trolley around.
Retail now makes up over 60% of WES EBIT and will likely grow as the turnaround gathers steam.

For WES it will be interesting to see where they next buy (i.e. insurance, energy etc) as SUN would have been an interesting one to swallow once the banking biz was ditched.
I recently read the Trevor Eastwood bio and it gives a realy good sense of WES is all about over and above what you get from an annual report.