Sainsbury’s recorded better-than-expected annual profits, with an 11.3 per cent rise in profits to £543 million.
The UK's third-largest supermarket said like-for-like sales rose 4.5 per cent, excluding fuel, and overall sales increased by 5.7 per cent to £20.4 billion in the year to March 21.
The retailer put the impressive hike down to the popularity of its ‘Switch and Save’ campaign, encouraging customers to move to buying lower priced goods such as its Basics range.
Its bonus fund will accordingly see a rise following the increased profits - Sainsbury's 120,000 staff will share £60m, up from £47m in 2008.
Sales of the Basics range of foods are up 60 per cent and seven out of 10 shoppers buy them.
Sainsbury’s has a market share of 16.3 per cent, its highest share for some years, while Tesco’s share fell from 31.8 per cent to just over 30 per cent. However, Sainsbury’s growth is less than half of its 28 per cent rise in the previous year, according to the latest TNS data.
The full-year profits growth is better than the increase posted by Tesco and Morrisons.
Chief executive Justin King said the strong profits and growth had put the retailer in "a strong position" to deal with the effects of the recession.
"Although consumer confidence in the UK has declined during the year, our performance improved as a result of the strength of the Sainsbury's brand and actions we have taken to adjust our offer to changing customer trends," he said.
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