The proposed demerger of Coles from Wesfarmers will see the company potentially retain a 20% stake in the supermarket.

Wesfarmers CEO Rob Scott says their focus is “always to deliver superior returns”.

“It’s all about returns to shareholders not scale for scale sake,” he tells Ross Greenwood.

“So I thought it was a bit of no-brainer to demerge Coles.

“By sliming down Wesfarmers, it gives both business opportunity for the future.”

He tells Ross they’re not selling Coles completely, but will retain a 20% stake so ensuring its success is important.

“We’re not selling Coles per se, we’re passing Coles onto our shareholders, so we want Coles to be very well set up for the future.

Listen to the full interview below