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Sainsbury’s is on track with plans to return £250m to shareholders as the £720m sale of the Argos Financial Services card portfolio progresses.
The supermarket struck a deal with NewDay Group in October as it continued to withdraw from financial services.
A statement to the London Stock Exchange this morning announced NewDay has now acquired beneficial title to the AFS portfolio, having successfully obtained appropriate financing and antitrust approvals.
NewDay will acquire legal title to the portfolio and take responsibility for servicing at migration, which is expected to occur in Q1 2026.
Sainsbury’s said this morning that consistent with the announcement in October, it expected to return £250m to shareholders.
As part of the deal, the two companies intend to form a new Argos-branded digital credit proposition to replace the current offering.
“Customers with an Argos-branded store card do not need to take any action as a result of this announcement,” Sainsbury’s said. “There will be no immediate changes to AFS customers’ existing terms and conditions.”
The deal with NewDay followed an agreement to sell the majority of Sainsbury’s Bank to NatWest.
This week in the City
There plenty lined up this week on the markets.
Greggs, Bakkavor and Kitwave all kick proceedings off tomorrow in London with annual results, while Swiss chocolatier Lindt reports fourth quarter numbers. Kantar will also provide an update on how the supermarkets have performed over the past month. There should also be the latest retail figures from the BRC.
NIQ follows up Kantar with its own supermarket till roll data for February on Wednesday morning. Multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology giant Bayer files quarterly results in Europe and, over in the US, Brown-Forman and Campbell Soup also report results.
Reckitt Benckiser will update on how its turnaround is going when it reports full-year results on Thursday. Ocado’s North American retail partner Kroger reports quarterly results later in the day.
Thursday also sees Pepco host a capital markets day in London, where the focus will be firmly on the turnaround plans for the troubled Poundland business.
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