Sainsbury’s has freed up £25 million to invest in price cuts, following the announcement that it plans to buy the company set up to overhaul its antiquated IT systems.
The supermarket group is acquiring Swan Infrastructure in a deal worth approximately £553m. It is still outsourcing the project to Accenture but said it would have a direct commercial relationship with the consultancy.
However, city analysts have given the move the thumbs down. One analyst said that the £25m figure as confusing, saying he would not be upgrading forecasts as a result.
Sir Peter Davis, Sainsbury’s chief executive, said the money saved would help its move towards its move towards trading its business harder from summer 2004. He said: “The net reduction in costs will provide additional resources to develop our customer proposition, by investing in quality and innovation and improving further our competitive offer.”
Sainsbury’s will, it appears, be one of the few influential retailers not to rely on a low pricing strategy to woo shoppers once Morrisons completes its acquistion of Safeway.
No comments yet