Sainsbury's market share falls

Sainsbury's share of the retail food trade market fell even quicker than troubled Safeway last month according to a report in The Times.

For three out of the last four months Sainsbury's has lost market share and it has been suggested that institutional investors are beginning to question the leadership of Sir Peter Davis.

In the four weeks to the end of May Sainsbury's share of the market fell from 16.7 per cent to 15.5 per cent. However, over the same period of trade their share of trade fell 0.5 per cent. Meanwhile, over the same period Tesco saw its share rise by 0.9 per cent to 23.9 per cent.

Sir Peter became chief executive in January 2000 and investors are disappointed that he has been unable to turn round the group's fortunes.