Woolworths has revealed the extent of the hit of its 17-day pre-Christmas warehouse strike, with its half-year profit shrinking more than 20 per cent on last year.

Australia’s biggest supermarket chain said on Wednesday it made $739 million in net profit after tax in the six months to December 31, down 20.6 per cent from 2024.

Sales across the group, which includes Big W, Petstock and its New Zealand supermarkets, rose 3.7 per cent to $35.9 billion.

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Group earnings before interest and tax were down 14.2 per cent to $1.4 billion.

Chief executive Amanda Bardwell said Woolworths’ Australian supermarket team had worked “incredibly hard” to recover from the supply chain disruptions stemming from the strike at four locations in Victoria and NSW in November and December.

“We came to an agreement that is fair and sustainable and enables ongoing productivity improvements critical to maintaining competitiveness,” she said.

Sales in Victoria were yet to fully recover, Bardwell said, but availability and customer metrics were returning to their pre-disruption levels.

She said Woolworths expected the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission would soon release its final report about its inquiry into the supermarket sector.

Bardwell said Woolworths had assisted the commission in its inquiry and would carefully review the report.

“Our day-to-day experience is that the Australian grocery sector is highly competitive and that customers have many choices about where to shop,” she said.

Woolworths will pay a 39 cent per share dividend, down 17 per cent from a year ago.