News: Australia's Woolworths reports first annual loss on hardware exit

SYDNEY, Aug 25 (Reuters) - Woolworths Ltd (WOW), Australia's biggest grocery chain by sales, posted its first annual loss since listing on Thursday due to billions of dollars in write-offs from exiting its hardware business.

The company reported a net loss of A$1.2 billion ($913.6 million) for the year to June 26, compared to a net profit of A$2.1 billion the previous year. The loss included a one-off charge of A$1.8 billion to quit a hardware joint venture with U.S.-based Lowe's Companies Inc . ($1 = 1.3135 Australian dollars)