Aug 24 (Reuters) - Australia's Coles Group posted a 4.3% rise in annual profit on Wednesday, helped by extended lockdowns in various states for much of the first half of the year that boosted online sales at supermarkets as people stocked up on essential items.

The country's No. 2 grocer reported a net profit after tax of A$1.05 billion ($727.34 million) for the year ended June 30, compared with A$1.01 billion a year earlier.

($1 = 1.4436 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; Editing by Vinay Dwivedi)