UPDATE 1.55pm: Woolworths still expects profit to rise in this financial year after a pleasing first four months.

Chief executive Grant O'Brien said the company maintained its expectations of a rise in its net profit from continuing operations of 3 per cent to 6 per cent over the year to June 30, 2013.

"I have been pleased with the start of the 2013 financial year and our guidance remains unchanged despite the instability of consumer confidence and some uncertainty in global financial markets," he told the company's annual general meeting in Adelaide.

Woolworths' sales in the three months to the end of September were up 4.3 per cent from the same period in the previous year.