Sainsbury's half-year profits up by 6.6% due to cost savings

Wednesday, 09 November 2011 03:33

Supermarket Sainsbury's has credited diligent cost savings and a raft of measures designed to appeal to shoppers as the reasons for its half-year profits going up.

The retailer announced today (November 9th 2011) that it achieved total sales including VAT and fuel of £12.85 billion in the 28 weeks to October 1st, up 7.6 per cent on last year.

This resulted in underlying profit before tax rising by 6.6 per cent to £354 million.

Sainsbury's reported that it had managed to achieve good sales growth in a challenging environment by bringing in cost-cutting strategies to absorb inflationary increases, as well as implementing promotional strategies such as the Live for Less campaign, Sainsbury's Brand Match and Feed Your Family for £50.

As a result, weekly customer transactions increased to almost 22 million - around a million more than during the same period last year - and the store won Supermarket of the Year and Convenience Chain of the Year at the 2011 Retail Industry Awards.

Chief executive Justin King said he expects further good progress despite the ongoing economic climate.

"Our further good sales growth reflects our continued hard work to help our customers cope with the tough economic environment," he added.

Sainsbury's - which recently brought in David Beckham to replace Jamie Oliver in its advertising campaigns - was revealed this week by Kantar to have achieved a 16.1 per cent share of the grocery market in the 12 weeks to October 30th.

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