Sainsbury’s, the UK’s third biggest grocery retailer, has announced a better than expected 17.5 per cent rise in annual profits.
The supermarket chain exceeded analysts’ expectations by posting underlying pre-tax profits of £610 million for the year to March 20, £10 million more than City forecasts.
Chief executive Justin King said the retailer’s 127,000 employees have received a share of a record £80 million bonus pot as a reward for what he called a “good performance in difficult trading times”.
Mr King added that Sainsbury’s is now serving a million more customers than this time last year with 19 million people now shopping at Sainsbury’s stores each week.
Sainsbury’s total revenues over the year to March 20, excluding fuel, rose by 5 per cent to £21.4 billion, while like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, increased by 4.3 per cent.
Mr King said the strong performance had been driven by “price and value” including promotions such as Cook And Save, and an increased emphasis on fresh food .
Mr King also revealed that sales of the chain’s non-food products, including clothes and homeware but not petrol, are growing at three times the rate of food, and added that the company is “looking to grow even faster in the next 12 months”.
