Sainsbury’s profit before tax has risen by 16.3 per cent to £898 million and like-for-like sales were up 0.2 per cent for the 52 weeks to 15 March 2014.
Retail sales, excluding fuel, were up by 2.7 per cent. During 2013 Sainsbury’s opened 13 supermarkets and 91 convenience stores, and extended six supermarkets.
Sainsbury’s said it had managed to maintain market share, but new data from Kantar for the 12 weeks to 27 April, said that out of the top four retailers only Asda has held onto its 17.3 per cent grocery market share. Kantar said that Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have all lost market share while Tesco and Morrisons recorded a fall in actual sales.
Chief executive Justin King said conditions in food retailers are likely to remain challenging. But he stressed: “We remain confident that our differentiated offer, supported by the ‘value of values’, Nectar data and Brand Match, will allow us to outperform our peers in the year ahead.”
He hinted that Sainsbury’s sees “significant opportunities for growth” and confirmed that the group will continue to invest for the future.
David Tyler, chairman of Sainsbury’s, said that under Justin King’s leadership customer transactions have increased by £10m a week to around £24m and annual sales have grown by £10.3 billion to £26.4bn.
“Against a challenging backdrop, Sainsbury’s has delivered another year of improving profits, and our market share remains at its highest level for a decade,” Tyler said. “We announced in January that Justin King will step down in July after ten years as chief executive. His ‘Making Sainsbury’s Great Again’ plan transformed our business and has seen Sainsbury’s consistently outperform the growth of the market.”
He added: “He has been a truly exceptional leader and, on behalf of all our colleagues, I thank him for his outstanding achievements.”
King will be succeeded as chief executive by Sainsbury's commercial director Mike Coupe at the company’s AGM in July.
Tesco remains the largest UK retailer with a grocery market share of 28.7 per cent, Asda is second with 17.3 per cent, Sainsbury’s has 16.6 per cent and Morrisons lags with 11 per cent.
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