TOP NEWS: J Sainsbury To Beat Guidance After Strong Festive Quarter

(Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC on Thursday reported sales growth in its third quarter and said ...

Alliance News 7 January, 2021 | 8:32AM
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(Alliance News) - J Sainsbury PLC on Thursday reported sales growth in its third quarter and said it is on track to beat its previous profit guidance, though profit will still be significantly behind its prior year.

Shares in the supermarket chain were up 4.0% at 241.80 pence in London in morning trading.

For its financial year ending March, Sainsbury's expects underlying pretax profit of at least GBP330 million, meaning a potential 44% fall from GBP586 million in financial 2020 but beating previous expectations for at least GBP270 million, as announced in early December.

This followed its decision to forego business rates relief of GP410 million.

Sainsbury's said like-for-like sales in the nine weeks to January 2 - so including the key festive period - were up 9.3% year-on-year.

For the whole of its third-quarter, like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, climbed 8.6%. Including fuel, like-for-like sales were up a more modest 3.2%.

Sales hikes were reported across the board, with total grocery sales up 7.4%, general merchandise sales climbing 6.0%, and clothing sales up 0.4%. Total retail sales excluding fuel were up 6.8%. Including fuel, where sales fell 29%, total retail sales were up 1.7% for the third quarter.

Sainsbury's noted that online grocery sales more than doubled, accounting for 18% of grocery sales.

"Grocery, general merchandise and clothing sales were stronger than our expectations throughout the quarter and particularly since the start of England's second national lockdown and subsequent increased restrictions throughout the UK. general merchandise and clothing gross margins additionally benefited from better than anticipated full price sales, driven by customers shopping earlier for Christmas and successful changes to our Black Friday trading strategy," the company explained.

In terms of outlook, the company acknowledged ongoing uncertainty, noting: "The impact of the pandemic on sales, colleagues and costs adds additional uncertainty to our financial outlook for the remainder of the year."

By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com

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Securities Mentioned in Article

Security Name Price Change (%) Morningstar
Rating
Sainsbury (J) PLC 267.80 GBX 0.90

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