(Reuters) -Australia’s Coles Group on Tuesday posted an 4.8% rise in its full-year profit, mainly helped by an increase in supermarket sales which help offset flat liquor sales revenue.
Supermarket chains are benefiting from passing on high shelf prices to the shoppers as decades-high inflation and sky-high borrowing costs push more consumers to eat at home and cut discretionary spending.
The country’s no. 2 grocer reported a net profit after tax of A$1.10 billion ($705.54 million) for the year ended June 30, compared with A$1.05 billion a year earlier. That marginally missed Refinitiv estimate of A$1.11 billion.
Coles announced a final dividend of A$0.30 per share, same as last year’s A$0.30 per share.
($1 = 1.5591 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Nausheen Thusoo and Sameer Manekar in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri)
