UK retailer Sainsbury's has said that it is 'pleased' with the set of yearly results that it has released today (13 March), with total sales growing 5.1 per cent including fuel to £21.4bn (€25.2bn), up from £20.4bn (€24bn) in 2008/09.
Underlying profit before tax soared by 17.5 per cent through 2009/10 to £610m (€717.5m), up from £519m (€610.5m) during the previous year, while the group's proposed full-year dividend stood at £0.14 pence, up 7.6 per cent from £0.13 in 2008/09.
'The board is pleased with the performance of Sainsbury's over the last year,' said Sainsbury's chairman David Tyler. 'We have delivered sales growth ahead of the market and good profit growth with underlying earnings per share up over 12 per cent.
'Our progress in achieving strategic objectives has been strong, particularly on growing space and developing our complementary non-food offer,' Mr Tyler added. 'At the same time, our values continue to underpin everything we do, with our focus on customer service and responsible trading.'
CEO Justin King noted that the retailer had outperformed because of it healthy, fresh and tasty food offering, and said that customers continued to recognise the progress the group had made in its 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again' campaign.
'Sainsbury's is a growing business with a strong balance sheet, valuable property assets and an improving return on capital,' Mr King explained. 'Our strong operating cash flows support our plans to accelerate the investment programme, delivering further trading and property value for shareholders.
The group said that weekly customer transactions were up 1m year-on-year to 19m, while over 1.1m ft2 of new gross space had been added over the past year, including 38 new supermarkets.
'Whilst we expect that the environment will remain challenging and consumer spending will be under pressure, we believe our strong space growth plans, supporting our expanding food, complementary non-food and convenience store businesses, alongside our continued focus on productivity, will enable the business to make further good progress,' Mr King added.
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