Chief executive Michael Luscombe said yesterday he was "very comfortable" with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's process to investigate its move into hardware.

But he said he would not make public comments on its submissions or waste time pondering hypothetical outcomes.

"We are very comfortable on sound commercial and strategic terms that we will be able to answer all of the issues," he said.

Last week ACCC chairman Graeme Samuel released a statement-of-issues document relating to Woolworths' $87.6 million grab for hardware distributor Danks that raised serious reservations about the competition implications of the proposed takeover.

The Danks takeover, announced in August, is part of Woolworths' push into the nation's $24 billion hardware sector and includes a joint venture with US group Lowe's to introduce 150 "big box" sites by 2014-15 to compete with market leader Bunnings.

Woolworths' first-quarter sales results, released yesterday, reflect the company's move away from relying solely on its traditional supermarket offering, with nearly 20 per cent of its sales now outside food and liquor.

Woolworths shares initially fell more than 1pc because the result missed some analysts' expectations of group sales closer to $13.5 billion.

Mr Luscombe said the gap was mainly due to lower-than-expected food inflation as cheaper food pumped up volumes but yielded less revenue.

Big W sales growth also seemed to decelerate, coming in at 5.8pc for the quarter against forecasts of roughly 9pc growth.

The company has kept to guidance of profit growth of 8-11pc this year.

Consumer electronics, which takes in a burgeoning operation in India, had sales of $462 million, up 13.2pc, although growth in Australia and the subcontinent was soured by soft economic conditions in New Zealand.

First-quarter petrol sales decreased 16.4pc, with average fuel prices well down on previous-year levels. Petrol litres sold increased by 3.6pc.

White Funds Management portfolio manager Angus Gluskie said: "From our perspective we thought it was a reasonable result, broadly in line with our expectations.

"An interesting positive was their consumer electronics division … the reaction for that quarter shows it's starting to move along quite reasonably."

Woolworths shares ended yesterday down 24¢, or 0.8pc, at $30.28.