Britain’s third biggest supermarket J Sainsbury announced a record bonus of £52m for its 117,000 staff today as its recovery continued on track.
The chain, which has posted five successive quarters of sales growth, said total revenues were up 5.8 per cent, while like-for-like sales increased 3.7 per cent in the year to March 25.
Chief executive Justin King told investors, “We have made good progress during the year and we are on track in our Making Sainsbury’s Great Again plan.”
Mr King said Sainsbury’s attracted an extra 1.5 million customers to its stores last year, as the chain benefited from improvements made in the first year of its recovery plan.
“Our sales for the year were ahead of our plans,” he added.
“The sales performance endorses our belief in the Sainsbury’s brand and shows that we are delivering a better and more consistent offer.”
Analysts had expected the retailer to post an 11% increase in pre-tax profits .
Recent data from research firm TNS showed Sainsbury’s accounted for 16% of grocery sales in the UK, just behind Asda .
But it is a long way from the 30.8% controlled by industry leader Tesco, which recently notched up record profits of £2 billion.
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