It was too much of a price to pay, as the decision to offload the Dick Smith electronics chain business had dragged full-year net profit of Woolworths Ltd, Australia's largest supermarket chain, down by 15 per cent from a year ago.

Reporting its first annual income drop in more than a decade, the company's total net profit registered at $1.8 billion in fiscal 2012, compared from the previous year's $2.1 billion.

Profit from continuing operations, on one end, grew 3.6 per cent to nearly $2.2 billion, but this does not include losses from its plan to offload Dick Smith.

Present retail conditions have been tough, although conditions do seem to be improving slightly, said Grant O'Brien, Woolworths chief executive.

"This result reflects a stronger end of year compared to the first half, and that trend of performance has continued into the start of this new financial year," he observed.

"Of course when we include the discontinued consumer electronics division, we are reporting a decline in net profit after tax of 14.5 per cent."

A final dividend of 67 cents a share, up from the previous year's 65 cents, will be given to investors.

Australia's largest supermarket chain expects net revenue from continuing operations will improve 3 per cent to 6 per cent in the 2012/13 financial year.

In January, Woolworths said it would offload its Dick Smith electronics chain business based on a November 2011 review which found the brand was not contributing much to the company's overall return on investment.

One hundred of 386 underperforming Dick Smith stores would be closed, while the company hoped to sell others. To date, a total of 74 Dick Smith stores have been shut down, with the other 22 already lined up in in FY2013.

Although several parties have expressed interest to take on the remaining outlets, Woolworths said no formal offers have been tendered at present.