Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest supermarket group, on Friday reported a 2.8% rise in underlying sales for the key Christmas quarter, with robust grocery sales offset by a weaker performance in general merchandise.
The group, which trails only Tesco by market share, said it expected to deliver full-year underlying operating profit, its preferred profit measure, in line with consensus and the midpoint of its guidance range of £1.01-£1.06 billion (€1.20-€1.26 billion), representing growth of around 7%.
Industry data published on Tuesday showed Sainsbury's ended 2024 with a UK grocery market share of 16.0%, up 20 basis points on the year.
Grocery Sales
Sainsbury's said grocery sales in its third quarter to Jan. 4 rose 4.1%.
But general merchandise and clothing sales in Sainsbury's stores fell 0.1%, while sales at its Argos business fell 1.4%.
Sainsbury's said its strategy of matching discounter Aldi's prices on hundreds of items and providing better offers for members of its popular Nectar loyalty scheme, financed by cutting costs, was paying off, helping it to win market share.
Private Label
Like Tesco, the group is also benefiting from the continuing trend of Britons dining at home more, with sales of its premium 'Taste the Difference' range up 16% in the quarter.
Sainsbury's also said it would raise pay for its hourly-paid workers by 5% in 2025, split into two separate increases.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said, “We have won grocery market share for the fifth consecutive Christmas, with more customers choosing Sainsbury’s for their big shop.
"Driven by our leading combination of quality, value and service, we have achieved seven consecutive quarters of volume performance ahead of the market and further accelerated our two-year volume growth.
“Customers shopped later than ever and we achieved our highest ever sales in the final days before Christmas."
Additional reporting from ESM
