Sainsbury’s has accelerated its store expansion plans as its faith grows in the longevity recovery.
The supermarket group now expects to increase the size of its estate by three per cent this year - double the amount it had previously suggested. It has taken on more new space, including store extensions, because of renewed confidence in its ability to sustain recent good results.
Sainsbury’s last week reported a two-thirds jump in its underlying interim profits and is well ahead of the targets set in ceo Justin King’s three-year recovery plan.
He said the group's target of increasing its space by five per cent per year, which it expects to hit within three to five years, is "increasingly about new stores".
King believes the group has defied its critics, and revealed "a lasting substance to our recovery".
King said it was "wrong" to believe that because prices are creeping up the environment is more benign, and said the battle is more about "quality than price" in the world of TV advertising.
