News: WOW UPDATE 1-Australia's Woolworths posts flat annual profit, declares special dividend

(Adds details about results from paragraph 2 onwards)

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Woolworths Group (WOW) , Australia's largest supermarket chain, reported a flat annual profit on Wednesday, as weak performance in its New Zealand food and Big W divisions offset sales growth in Australian food and Australian B2B segments.

Woolworths grapples with declining performance in key divisions amid inflation-induced margin pressures and escalating operational costs, while intense competition has made it hard for the grocer to adapt to evolving consumer trends.

"New Zealand Food and BIG W had a challenging year impacted by value-conscious customers cross-shopping and trading down," the company said.

The grocer logged total group sales of A$67.92 billion for the year, compared with A$64.29 billion a year ago.

The company posted a net profit after tax before significant items of A$1.71 billion ($1.16 billion) for the year ended June, largely in line with A$1.72 billion in the prior year and a Visible Alpha consensus estimate of A$1.72 billion.

The Sydney-based company also declared a final dividend of 57 Australian cents per shares, compared with 58 cents a year earlier.

It also declared special dividend of 40 Australian cents per share.

($1 = 1.4728 Australian dollars)