Sainsbury’s confident on full year profit
Sainsbury’s expects to report a full year underlying pre-tax profit of between £670 million and £700 million, which is in the upper half of its previous guidance range.
In its half-year report, the supermarket said statutory pre-tax profit in the 28 weeks to 16 September fell by 27% to £275 million. On an underlying basis, profits were flat at £340 million.
Meanwhile, grocery sales climbed by 10.1% in the period as volume growth across the first and second quarters drove record market share gains. General merchandise sales were also up, rising by 1.1%, despite tough weather comparatives over the summer.
Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury, said: “Food is firmly back at the heart of Sainsbury’s. We’ve never been more competitive on price and our focus on value, innovation and service is giving more customers more reasons to shop with us.
“We know people are still finding things tough and we’re working harder than ever to reduce our costs, putting the money back into our customers’ pockets through lower prices on the products they buy most often.
“I’m pleased to say food inflation is coming down and we are passing savings on to customers.”
