Sainsbury's delivers '˜strong performance' in fourth quarter

Supermarket Sainsbury's has improved its performance after posting its first quarterly like-for-like sales growth for more than two years.
By The Newsroom
Published 15th Mar 2016, 07:39 BST
Updated 15th Mar 2016, 08:41 BST
Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe.Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe.
Sainsbury's chief executive Mike Coupe.

Britain’s second-biggest grocer said like-for-like retail sales excluding fuel rose 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter, compared with a fall of 0.4 per cent in the third quarter.

The uptick in sales is a significant boost for the Big Four grocer, coming after sales dropped 1.9 per cent a year earlier amid an ongoing supermarket price war.

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The sales figures come just days ahead of the March 18 deadline for bettering its offer for Argos owner Home Retail Group.

Sainsbury’s said it would create a ‘’world-leading’’ retailer bigger than rivals John Lewis and Amazon UK when it tabled an improved £1.3 billion offer for Home Retail in February.

Since then, South African retailer Steinhoff has attempted to gatecrash the supermarket’s cash and shares deal, with a £1.4 billion offer.

Chief executive Mike Coupe said the supermarket had delivered a “strong performance” in the fourth quarter, as it recorded like-for-like sales and volume growth while maintaining its market share.

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He added: “We are progressing well with our quality investment in 3,000 own-brand products.

“The new year is traditionally a time when customers focus on healthy eating and to cater for this demand we launched a number of vegetable-based product innovations including boodles (butternut squash noodles) and courgetti (spiralised courgette) which are proving extremely popular with our customers.”