Sainsbury's, the UK's third-largest grocery retailer by market share, has reported on a good sales and profit performance for the first quarter of the year, outperforming the market and delivering over £100m (€124m) in operational cost savings.
The group revealed that total sales jumped 6.8 per cent on the same period last year, from £22.9bn (€28.4bn) to £24.5bn (€30.4bn), with like-for-like sales up 2.1 per cent.
While profit before tax dropped 3.4 per cent to £799m (€991m) on a year-on-year basis, underlying profit before tax increased 7.1 per cent to £712m (€883m) from £665m (€825m) in the first quarter of 2011.
According to Sainsbury's, it outperformed the UK grocery market as a whole while also increasing its market share to 16.6 per cent, the highest for nearly ten years. To top this off, Sainsbury's was handed the Supermarket of the Year and Convenience Chain of the Year at the 2011 Retail Industry Awards.
'We are succeeding by understanding what our customers want, supporting and inspiring them to 'Live Well For Less',' noted Justin King, chief executive officer at Sainsbury's. 'Delivering quality and value is a compelling offer, in tune with what today's savvy shoppers want. Brand Match, combined with our use of coupon-at-till, has improved Sainsbury's price perception whilst retaining the benefits of our heritage in quality and service. We have continued to invest in the future of the business, including opening a further 1.4m ft2 of gross space, whilst managing costs and increasing net underlying margins.
'Whilst the wider economic situation remains uncertain, we remain confident that our clear strategy, market insight and strong values will enable us to make further progress both in our core food and non-food businesses, as well as new channels and services in the year ahead,' King added.
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