The retail chain of independently owned Home Timber & Hardware outlets has helped boost grocery wholesaler Metcash’s business half-year profit by 24 per cent.

However its supermakets’ business, as the supplier of IGA and Foodlands stores, continued to come under pressure amid Woolworths and Coles’ price cuts and the aggressive expansion of Aldi into South Australia and Western Australia.

Net profit grew to $92.9 million during the six months to October 31, up from $74.9 million a year earlier.

Food sales for the half dropped 1.4 per cent to $4.36 billion compared to the same period a year ago.

The group said food sales continued to improve across the eastern seaboard but remained weaker in SA and WA due to Aldi’s aggressive rollout in those states and WA’s challenging economic conditions.

The IGA retail network recorded a 1.1 per cent fall in the key like-for-like sales.

“The savings achieved have been a key factor in supermarkets maintaining its earnings, despite the significant headwinds that include a continuing high level of deflation,” said outgoing Metcash CEO Ian Morrice.

Sales revenue rose 7.6 per cent to $7.1 billion, up from $6.6 billion in the prior year largely due to a full half-year contribution from Home Timber & Hardware (HTH) that it acquired from Woolworths in October, 2016.