Woolworths stock price soars due to strong half-year performance

LootboxPhobia · 2026-02-25T00:23:09+00:00

Woolworths Ltd announced its financial report, with half-year net profit increasing by 16.4% to AUD 859 million, and the stock price rose nearly 8% on Wednesday. Despite a 49.4% decline in after-tax net profit due to legal provisions, overall performance remains strong, and growth is expected to continue in the second half of the year.

LootboxPhobia

2026-02-25 00:23:09

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Investing.com - Woolworths Ltd (ASX:WOW) stock surged sharply on Wednesday after the Australian grocery retailer announced strong half-year profits and indicated that local consumer demand is improving, especially for discounted goods.

Woolworths’ stock opened nearly 8% higher at AUD 34.150, boosting the ASX 200 index by 0.6%.

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Australia’s largest supermarket chain reported a 16.4% increase in underlying after-tax profit to AUD 859 million ($606.3 million) for the six months ending January 4.

Group sales rose 3.4% to AUD 37.1 billion, while the company’s gross margin slightly improved to 27.4% driven by cost reductions and supply chain improvements.

Stronger underlying performance helped investors largely overlook Woolworths’ 49.4% decline in after-tax net profit, which was due to a AUD 710 million reserve for potential legal costs related to past employee compensation issues.

Woolworths announced an interim dividend of AUD 0.45 per share, up from AUD 0.39 in the same period last year.

The company said that trading in the first seven weeks of the second half of the fiscal year has been strong, with its core Australian food division experiencing a 5.8% sales increase during this period.

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