Woolworths has suffered a 3.1 per cent slide in its first half profit to $1.28 billion due to costs associated with its efforts to turnaround Big W, michael kors outlet online but beat market expectations by lifting its underlying net profit 4.7 per cent.

Woolworths has downgraded its full year guidance as it looks to step up investment in its core supermarkets business.

The supermarket giant had previously forecast full year profit growth of between four and seven per cent but now says growth is likely to be at the lower end of analysts forecasts for a profit increase of between 1.8 per cent and 6.6 per cent.

It said it had stepped back from its earlier guidance to allow itself to make investments for the longer term in the supermarkets business.

Woolworths suffered a 3.1 per cent slide in its first half profit to $1.28 billion due to costs associated with its efforts to turnaround Big W.

But it beat market expectations by lifting its underlying net profit 4.7 per cent to $1.38 billion, compared to expectations for a 3.7 per cent rise.

Food and liquor sales were up 3.4 per cent on a year ago, while comparable sales were up 1.7 per cent.

Woolworths lifted its fully franked interim dividend two cents to 67 cents per share,

AAP