sainsbury's store

There has been no dramatic turnaround in sales fortunes for outgoing Sainsbury's CEO Justin King: for the second quarter in a row, the retailer has seen its share of the market fall.

Like-for-like sales in the 12 weeks to 7 June 2014 were shown to be more than one per cent lower compared with a year earlier, with the results following on from the first decline in sales at Sainsbury's in eight years reported in March.

The retailer is currently preparing for Mike Coupe, the company's group commercial director, to take over as chief executive from King, who has been in the post for the last ten years.

King said: 'Lower food price inflation and reduced fuel prices are a welcome respite to customers' finances, but they continue to spend cautiously, leading to industry growth in the quarter being the slowest in a decade.'

Sainsbury's latest fall in sales comes only a short time after Tesco revealed it also saw a like-for-like sales slump for the second quarter of the year.