Endeavour Group estimates its sales have been adversely impacted by approximately $25 million following Woolworths’ recent warehouse strike incident.

As Woolworths provides warehouse services to Endeavour including at two distribution centres in Victoria, the industrial action affected stock availability in some of the latter’s retail stores.

In response, Endeavour had to carry out contingency plans including building inventory at stores, leveraging the wider distribution network and accepting direct to store deliveries from some suppliers.

Sales at the group have so far been negatively impacted by approximately $25 million and will continue to be affected while stores are replenished.

The full financial impact remains unknown as it will depend on the time required to restore inventory levels in stores and distribution centres, Endeavour said.

The group added sales from stock-outs may be exacerbated by the timing of the disruption, given the importance of December trading to its first half result.

The United Workers Union (UWU) launched an indefinite strike action at four Woolworths sites on November 21 as it sought a pay raise and the abolishment of a productivity framework. This resulted in supply disruptions at stores in NSW, Victoria, and the ACT.

After reaching a deal with the workers, Woolworths reopened its four distribution centres on Monday. However, it expects about a $140 million negative impact on food sales due to the incident.