Its shares dropped 72 cents, or 1.9 per cent, to $37.32. Shares in Coles' parent company Wesfarmers also continued to fall after the conglomerate failed to meet market expectations on sales growth a day earlier. Wesfarmers shares closed 30 cents lower at $42.71. But Woolworths boss Grant O'Brien insisted his company's result showed the success of it strategy of boosting the performance of its food and liquor division. "We have spoken consistently about our ambition to improve that business, quarter and quarter, and pleasingly that is evident again in these results," he told reporters.