Sainsbury’s sales grow as it takes full control of Bank

Sainsbury’s has posted full-year like-for-like sales growth of 1.8% and its highest market share for a decade.

Releasing its full-year results this morning, the supermarket revealed underlying pre-tax profits rose 6.2% to £756m in the year to 16 March – ahead of analyst expectations of around 5%. However, statutory profit before tax fell 1.4% to £788m during the period due to lower year-on-year property profits and an increase in other one-off items.

Total sales rose 4.6% to £25.6bn.

Sainsbury’s said its market share of 16.8% had been driven by 33 consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth.

On food, the retailer said it had grown its own-label offer by 5% during the year and that it now accounted for half of its food sales. It has now completed the relaunch of its 6,500 strong mid-tier By Sainsbury’s range, and its premium range Taste the Difference chalked up sales growth of 10%.

In non-food, sales and general merchandise and clothing grew at more than twice the rate of food. Its Tu clothing range notched up double-digit growth during the year.

Sainsbury’s convenience business delivered sales growth of more than 17% year-on-year, with a turnover in excess of £1.5bn. It also revealed that in the next year, the number of c-stores would overtake its supermarkets estate.

Sainsbury’s also revealed it had taken full control of Sainsbury’s Bank – buying out Lloyds Banking Group’s 50% share for £248m. It follows reports over the weekend, confirmed by Sainsbury’s yesterday, that it was looking at owning the bank outright.

“Our focus on helping our customers Live Well For Less is delivering good growth in sales and profit,” said CEO Justin King.

“We remain confident that by continuing to invest in our long-standing strategy and by understanding and helping our customers, we are well positioned for future growth”

Justin King

“While we see no near-term change in the current economic situation, we remain confident that by continuing to invest in our long-standing strategy and by understanding and helping our customers, we are well positioned for future growth.”

On Sainsbury’s Bank, he added: “This is an exciting transaction for Sainsbury’s which has the potential to deliver significant benefits to our shareholders, customers and colleagues. We have 23 million transactions each week by customers who know and trust the Sainsbury’s brand.

“We see a great opportunity to increase the number of Bank customers by offering accessible, high-quality financial services products which reward customers who bank and shop with us. We expect the Bank to become an important source of profit diversification and growth, building on the strengths of our core business.”

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