Diluted earning per share were 157.2 cents for the period under review. Adjusted headline earnings per share increased by 24.7% to 157.2 cents.
A final dividend of 67 cents per share was declared and a total distribution of 105 cents per ordinary share was made for the period from 179 cents in 2009.
The I-Net Bridge consensus forecast was for diluted headline earnings per share of 155.3 cents and a total dividend per share of 107.4 cents per share.
The group said that the results are not comparable to the previous year because of the R380 million profit earned on the sale of a controlling interest in Woolworths Financial Services (WFS) included in 2009 year, the R75 million STC on special dividend paid in 2009 and the R57 million (after tax) foreign exchange loss included in 2009 that has unwound as a R57 million profit in 2010.
Revenue was at R23.7 billion after revenue of R21.9 billion reported in 2009, while operating profit was at R1.7 billion after operating profit of R1.45 billion a year ago.
Woolworths SA retail profit before tax was 22.9% up on the previous year while turnover increased by 10.5%.
Woolworths said that it had performed well for the year with all retail segments growing above market.
"The growing increase in customer confidence and the strategies that we put in place to attract customers back to our stores delivered a sales increase of 10.4% and market share gains in all categories," said the company.
Clothing and general merchandise sales increased by 11.2% for the year, with comparable stores increasing by 6.7%.
Woolworths said that gains in market share have been made for the past 15 months, with clothing and footwear growth tracking approximately 5% above the Retailers' Liaison Committee (RLC) market on a continual basis.
Food sales increased by 9.9% for the year with comparable stores increasing by 5.6%, while price movement for the year averaged 5.2%.
The group said that its balance sheet remained strong and open market share repurchases of R410 million were made during the year.
"The second half delivered real volume growth in our comparable stores.
"The market has responded positively to our product value offering, with market share gains in the last nine months and growth exceeding the RLC market by approximately 6%," said Woolworths.
Woolworth's gross margin increased from 28.0% to 29.8% and its operating margin showed strong improvement to 7.0% from 6.2%.
"The clothing and general merchandise sourcing strategy delivered our year three targeted margin a year earlier than anticipated," said Woolworths.
New store expansion was down on the previous year, with seven full-line stores and nine food stand-alone stores opened and trading space increased by 4.8% in clothing and general merchandise and 3.7% in food.
The group's Country Road division was affected by trading conditions in Australia, which have been challenging.
"The government's fiscal stimulus packages of the previous year were not repeated and there have been six interest rate increases during the year," said Woolworths.
Sales increased by 8.5% in the year, with a comparable sales increase of 1.5% in Australian dollars.
Gross margin decreased from 59.5% to 57.4%, due to heavy discounting needed to stimulate customer spending and operating margin declined to 4.9% from 6.3%, impacted by the reduced gross margin and the start-up costs of the new Trenery brand.
Woolworths said that the results of the WFS segment are not comparable with last year.
The company said that customer demand for credit remained subdued throughout the year and that the closing debtors' books at year-end were 1.3% down on the previous year.
"The quality of the debtors' books have improved considerably with a reduction in the impairment charge as a percentage of average gross receivables from 7.5% to 5.1%," said Woolworths.
Looking ahead the group expects economic conditions in South Africa to improve, albeit at a slower pace, while trading in Australia will remain tough but is expected to improve in the second half.
"Current trading remains positive and in line with expectations, the business is focused, strategies are delivering and we are well positioned for continued growth in the year ahead.
"The benefit of a lower effective tax rate last year will return to normal levels," said Woolworths.
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