Sainsbury’s profit and sales rise

Sainsbury’s has reported a better than expected rise in sales and profit for the year despite a “challenging” economic backdrop.

Sainsbury's Tu clothing brand
Sainsbury’s Tu clothing brand

The supermarket reported a 9% increase in underlying pre-tax profit to £665m in the 12 months to March 19. Total sales increased 7% to £22.9bn.

Like for like sales, excluding fuel and the impact of new stores, increased 2.3%.

Justin King, CEO says: “Strong sales growth, combined with productivity savings and tight control on operating costs, have helped to deliver good profit growth. We expect the economic environment to remain uncertain over the coming year. We remain confident that our strategy, alongside continued strong operational performance, will enable the business to make further good progress.”

The supermarket recorded a record number of customer transactions reaching 21 million every week. Its online groceries channel is growing at over 20%.

Sainsbury’s says its non-food business is growing at three times the rate of its food business.

It claims its TU clothing brand is now the seventh largest in the UK market by volume and plans to turn more of its supermarkets into “larger destination stores” to take advantage of the growing non-food market.

It is also reviewing 6,500 products as part of its largest ever investment in own label following the relaunch of its premium Taste The Difference range in September.

It’s convenience store business is now worth £1bn and the supermarket plans to open one to two stores each week over the next year.