Retail analysts told the Journal the news of Sainsbury’s first ever loss is “not a surprise”.

The retailer announced a loss of £39 million, pre-tax and post-exceptionals, for the six months to October 9, despite a total sales rise of 3.5 per cent to £8.35 billion.

However, Sanjay Vidyarthi, an analyst with Teather & Greenwood, told the Journal: “There’s nothing new in this statement, it’s pretty much a non-event as far as the City is concerned.”

He said the retailer had warned of the situation in its October 19 statement, and the City was watching its underlying profit performance.

“It’s a big deal they’ve made a loss, but not a surprise. In the longer term, Justin King has everything to prove with his recovery strategy.” He estimated King would have a year to turn things round.

In its statement, Sainsbury’s said excluding £168m of exceptional items, pre-tax profits are £131m for the first half of the financial year.

Chief executive King recently said a failure to stock shelves efficiently had hit them hard, and extensive internal reorganisation cost £400m.

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