The day they announced their rebrand was the last day I bought anything from them. I refuse to give them any more money on principle. If they can shell out nearly a half billion on a rebrand, they can drop some of their prices.
The article says what this years NZ profit is, and then says what the Woolworths Australia total profit change is (an increase). It doesn't give us the information to calculate whether NZ profit is up or down. I guess the profit change is the 21% down but it's pretty sloppy article writing to not include your claim in the article.
I wonder if some of those cost increases are boosting the Australian parent's revenues? I've seen some house branded stuff go up in price significantly compared to competing products.