13/05/2009

Sainsbury's Announces 11% Profit Rise

Supermarket giant Sainsbury's is celebrating its 140th anniversary this month with better-than-expected annual profits, which are up more than 11% at £543 million.

The profits surge means more than 120,000 staff at the UK's third-largest supermarket chain will share a £60m bonus pot.

While the growth is less than half the 28% surge seen the previous year, it compares well with the 8.8% hike in annual profits seen at market leader Tesco as well as the 7% rise at Morrisons.

Sainsbury's boss Justin King hailed its ability to appeal to "savvy" shoppers during the recession, as it now sees more than 18 million customers pass through the checkouts every week.

Though he did admit it had been a "very challenging period for the UK retail industry".

Mr King said people were eating at home more and buying from cheaper product ranges from the supermarket.

"Our universal customer appeal and continued investment in price and quality have been fundamental to our growth, catering for a range of changing customer needs and trends," he said

"Over the past 12 months consumers have become increasingly 'savvy' and have responded to rises in the cost of living by making significant changes to the mix of products they buy.

"There's one or two companies doing well like us - it might be the that we (the economy) is bouncing along the bottom."

The supermarket is now turning its attention to selling more non-food goods, like homewares and fashion, which would offer higher profit margins.

Sainsbury's said it also plans to open 50 convenience stores this financial year, and a further 100 in 2010-2011.

New store openings and extensions will enlarge floor space by more than 5% this year compared with last year’s 4.1% increase.

(JM/BMcC)

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