DAIRY Farm International Holdings on Thursday reported a nearly 17 per cent fall in profit attributable to shareholders of US$424.4 million for the 2015 financial year, down from US$509.1 million a year ago.

Overall performance was impacted by a "challenging retail environment", said the company, with both the food, and the health and beauty divisions, reporting lower profits, even though most key businesses achieved positive like-for-like sales growth.

Sales marginally rose year-on-year from US$11.008 billion in FY2014 to US$11.137 billion in FY2015, boosted by higher sales from the home furnishings and restaurants divisions.

Earnings per share fell from 37.65 US cents to 31.39 US cents.

Dairy Farm has also recommended a final dividend 20.00 US cents per share for FY2015, compared with 23.00 US cents a year ago.