News: WOW UPDATE 1-Australia's Woolworths posts nearly 5% rise in annual profit

(Adds context and more details in paragraph 2 and 5, quote in paragraph 3)

Aug 23 (Reuters) - Australia's largest supermarket chain Woolworths Group (WOW) reported an 4.6% rise in full-year profit on Wednesday, helped by elevated shelf prices on the back of rising inflation and increasing normalization of customer habits.

Demand for groceries and other necessary household items has remained strong as rising expenses forced consumers to cut discretionary spending, pointing to a change in spending patterns after years of COVID-related disruption.

"We also expect the consumer environment to remain challenging with customers continuing to cut back on non-essential items looking ahead in FY24," CEO Brad Banducci said.

The company said annual net profit after tax from continuing operations, after significant items, was A$1.62 billion ($1.04 billion), compared with A$1.55 billion a year earlier.

The Sydney-based company also declared a final dividend of 58 Australian cents per share, higher than 53 cents per share declared last year.

($1 = 1.5567 Australian dollars)