Brokers expect Woolworths will reinvest up to $200 million in savings to try to turn around its poor sales performance and catch up to Coles.

The country’s biggest grocery retailer last month flagged a $400 million cost-cutting program this year as it sought to reassure concerned investors that it had a strategy to return to profit growth after two downgrades and a 20 per cent fall in the company’s half-year net profit.