Australian grocery retailer Coles has booked a jump in full-year sales despite a highly competitive retail environment and food price deflation.

Wesfermers, the coal-to-grocery conglomerate that owns Coles, revealed today (26 July) that full-year sales at the supermarket chain rose 4.6% year-on-year to A$26.2bn (US$27.2bn). Like-for-like sales were up 3.7%, the company revealed.

The gains come in a deflationary environment. Prices at the food and liquor chain were down 2.9% in the year, with deflation accelerating in the fourth-quarter to 4.6%.

Coles' strong growth suggests that Australia's second-largest retailer continues to gain ground on market leader Woolworths Ltd, which booked like-for-like growth of 1.1% earlier this week.