Retail giant Woolworths Ltd (ASX: WOW) reported on Thursday that it has surged past its market growth forecast of $1.99 billion and posted a statutory net profit of $2.02 billion in fiscal 2010 despite its overall revenue advancing only by measly 4.2 percent in the same period.

Company chief executive Michael Luscombe said that the solid results cleared past Woolworths' previous guidance as he noted that the numbers all came in despite the prevailing "economic challenges of cycling the prior year's stimulus packages, the significant decline in inflation and a more conservative consumer in the second half of the year."

Woolworths had initially complained that sales and prices has been on the downward trend during the past few months as the stimulus injected by the federal government started winding down.

It added that in order to maintain margins, the retailer was forced to mark down shelf prices of about 4,400 items as more cost-cutting measures were being undertaken to further reduce the company's cost for the next five years of operation.

Mr Luscombe said that the double-digit growth is the 11th consecutive year for Woolworths but this year's results were affected by some slow downs in December last year though the company was able to sustain its profit growth by implementing substantial reduction on its prices.

He said that growth gains this year would lend support on the company's ongoing expansion on its home improvement division, which Woolworths said "is also progressing well."

Further buttressing its standing this year, Woolworths announced an off-market share buy-back of $700 million, adding up to the earlier on-market buyback of $325 million earlier and returning more than a billion worth of capital for company shareholders.

More good news is Woolworths' final dividend distribution of 62 cents per security on top of the 53 cents earlier paid and besting out by 10.6 percent the dividend issued last year.

As of 1118 AEST, Woolworths' shares were trading at $28.18, picking up by 4.8 percent from previous trading sessions and obviously spurred by the impressive numbers made public today.