By Grant Shepherd

SYDNEY, NSW: Woolworths Limited has posted a net profit after tax of $1.095 billion for the 27 weeks ending 3 January 2010. This represents an 11.4 per cent increase compared to the previous period.

“This result again demonstrates that our team is delivering on our long term plan to achieve sustainable results for our shareholders and customers in all economic cycles,” said Woolworths CEO Michael Luscombe.

Even after Woolworths reduced the prices of 3,500 items in its supermarkets, the company still achieved substantial growth. Luscombe discussed this in more detail.

“We have strongly grown profits while driving 3,500 prices in our Australian supermarkets business lower than a year ago,” he said.

“The result is more customers are choosing to shop in our stores. We will continue to improve our offer to meet challenging customer expectations.”

Luscombe highlighted that both Big W and Dick Smith stores have performed exceedingly well.

“The investment in Big W continues to achieve good results. The Big W offer was very well positioned to take advantage of the government stimulus packages in FY09 and has been able to continue to grow while cycling this stimulus, achieving a two year sales compound annual growth rate of 6.1 per cent,” he said.

“In consumer electronics, the results achieved in Australian Dick Smith stores incorporating the new format, have been extremely pleasing. This reflects strong customer acceptance of the new refreshed offer. The Australian Dick Smith business has seen EBIT increase by 28.5 per cent and the benefits of the rollout will continue to be seen in future periods.”

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