Sainsbury's Report 7.8 Pct Growth
Sainsbury's have reported like-for-like sales, excluding fuel and VAT, rose 7.8 percent in the 12 weeks to June 13.
The figure is higher than analysts expectations for 7.3% growth, and comes in well ahead of rivals and market leaders Tesco who reported growth of only 4.3% yesterday for the 13 weeks to May 30.
The company also announced expansion plans, including buying a further nine Co-op stores, on top of the 24 already acquired, and raising £445 million by offering new shares and bonds.
Sainsbury's: Supporting British Agriculture (My Arse)
Following hot on the heels of record profits from Tesco, Sainsbury’s have weighed in with another shining example of exactly how hard they are trying to “help” British agriculture by absorbing costs themselves, unveiling an 11% increase in annual profits to £543 million.
The profits come on the back of a 5.7% rise in sales in the 12 months to the end of March to £20.4 billion.
That's right profits have doubled at the rate of sales as we all pull together in these difficult times.
Sainsbury's chief executive Justin King, bless his little “cheap and cheerful” socks, is in line for a £5 million bonus on the back of it.
I don’t suppose that Justin will be needing to pay a visit to the “Feed Your Family For a Fiver” aisle himself just yet then? Maybe he has his own special "Feed Your Family For Five Million" aisle:
Sainsburys Report Good Q4
J Sainsbury Plc has posted is fourth quarter trading statement for the period up until 21 March 2009, saying that shoppers looking for cheaper deals increased Sainsbury's sales by 6.8%.
Justin King, chief executive of Sainsbury's, said its 'Switch and Save' campaign in January had driven a 60% year-on-year rise in sales of its cheaper 'basics' range.
He also said the supermarket was benefiting from the growing trend of customers choosing to cook at home.
Sainsbury's like-for-like sales also rose, up 6.2% from the beginning of the year.
The company said it was serving more customers and shoppers were buying more items when they visited its stores.
Sainsbury's will announce its full-year financial figures on May 13.
Sainsbury's is lagging behind its fierce rival Wm Morrison, however. Morrison's recently announced underlying sales growth of 7.9 per cent for its financial year to the start of February.
Sainsbury's higher welfare chicken sales up 60pc
Farmer's Guardian -- DESPITE concerns over reduced consumer spending, free-range chicken sales have continued to grow on the back of high profile celebrity campaigns earlier this year.
Supermarket giant Sainsbury's has recorded a 60 per cent growth in higher welfare chicken and this week more than doubled its range to meet the growing demand.
The new poultry range will meet Freedom Food standards, and the supermarket expects sales to grow even further in the coming months.
The figures will come as a boost to celebrity chefs Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall whose high profile campaigns in January led to the retailer committing to phasing out standard chicken and switching to Freedom Food as its minimum requirement.
Judith Batchelar, director of Sainsbury’s brand said: “When we met Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall last year we said that Sainsbury’s would do everything it could to improve chicken welfare while providing our customers with choice and good value.
“We knew that higher welfare chicken sales would go up following the Channel 4 food series in January, however we are thrilled to see that customers have continued to buy chicken reared to higher standards.
“It demonstrates the strength of feeling for animal welfare issues and that with greater availability of affordable options our customers don’t have to compromise.”
Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall said: “Sainsbury’s commitment to upgrade the minimum welfare standards of all their fresh chicken to the RSPCA welfare standards over the coming years will improve the lives of millions of British chickens, and this new initiative is clearly the first major step along that road. I welcome it wholeheartedly.”
