Trading Statement

RNS Number : 4392D

Sainsbury(J) PLC

23 March 2011

 



23 March 2011

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 10 weeks to 19 March 2011

Continued growth in a tough consumer environment

·    Total sales for fourth quarter up 6.8 per cent (3.5 per cent excluding fuel)¹

·    Like-for-like sales for the quarter up 4.2 per cent (1.0 per cent excluding fuel) ¹

·    Like-for-like sales for the full year up 4.7 per cent (2.3 per cent excluding fuel) ¹

·    Gross space growth of 8.5 per cent in the year, 15.9 per cent in the two years to March 2011

·    21 million weekly customer transactions, up 1 million year on year ²

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "In a tough consumer environment our focus on delivering universal customer appeal and our multi-channel and space growth strategy has attracted a record 21 million customers to our stores each week, up 1 million on last year. As a result we have delivered total sales growth excluding fuel of 3.5 per cent and like-for-like sales growth of 1.0 per cent, outperforming the market in the period. 

Total sales growth including fuel was 6.8 per cent, reflecting volume growth in fuel as customers respond to our competitive prices.  This is despite fuel price inflation of 16 per cent year on year, which is having a significant impact on most household budgets.

The tough consumer environment has seen our customers manage their spending carefully, and we are pleased that more customers than ever recognise that Sainsbury's offers great food at fair prices.  Scratch cooking is a great way of saving money, and we have provided over 3 million customers with our meal planner tip cards, helping shoppers feed their families five healthy, tasty meals for £20. 

Our stores and colleagues continue to play an active role at the heart of their communities.  During the quarter we launched our seventh Active Kids⁽³⁾ programme and are especially proud that our customers and colleagues raised a record-breaking £10m for Comic Relief.  

Nectar, the UK's number one loyalty scheme, has got bigger and better for our customers with British Gas joining in January and easyJet joining last week, enabling our customers to spend their points on flights.  Nectar now has over 17.5 million collectors, with over 800,000 more participating in Sainsbury's versus this time last year as they benefit from the targeted offers and opportunities to get even more for their money. 

Our non-food sales grew at over three times the rate of food.  In the quarter we announced an exciting new partnership with Gok Wan, who will create a number of womenswear collections for us.  Our groceries online business continues to grow at over 20 per cent year on year. 

We continued to progress our space growth strategy, opening 193,000 square feet of new space in the quarter, comprising three new supermarkets (including two replacement stores), one extension and 21 convenience stores.  This brings gross space growth for the year to 8.5 per cent and 15.9 per cent in the two years to March 2011, exceeding our 15 per cent target set in 2009.    

We expect the consumer environment to remain tough, with our customers facing fuel price inflation, uncertain employment prospects and government spending cuts. We have demonstrated our ability to perform well in these conditions and are confident that our growth plans and universal customer appeal, supported by Nectar and coupon at till, mean we are well-positioned for further growth in 2011/12."

Enquiries

Investor Relations                    Media

Anna Tee / Erica Judge                Mark Rigby / Ben Crowther

[phone] / 7599          [phone]

 

Notes

1.   All sales figures contained in this trading statement are stated including VAT and in accordance with IFRIC 13.

2.   Average weekly customer transactions in the 10 weeks ending 19 March 2011 compared to previous year (10 weeks ending
  20 March 2010).

3.   Active Kids is a scheme where vouchers are collected on spend instore and can be exchanged by schools, nurseries and clubs
  for a variety of sports and cookery equipment and experiences.    

4.   Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking statements. Such statements are based on current
  expectations and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from any
  expected future events or results referred to in these forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable law,
  regulation or accounting standard, we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements,
  whether as a result of new information, future developments or otherwise.

5.   Sainsbury's set the length of its third and fourth quarters to ensure the Christmas and New Year trading period remains within
  the third quarter.  The results for the third quarter were for the 14 weeks ending 8 January 2011. The results for the fourth
  quarter are for the 10 weeks ending 19 March 2011.

6.   A conference call will take place at 8:45am. To listen to the audio webcast we recommend that you register in advance. To do
  so please visit www.j-sainsbury.co.uk prior to the event and follow the on-screen instructions.  To view the transcript of the
  conference call, go to www.j-sainsbury.co.ukand follow the on-screen instructions of the fourth quarter trading statement
  section.

7.   Sainsbury's will announce 2010/11 Preliminary Results on 11 May 2011.

8.   Sainsbury's also released today its Fourth Quarter Corporate Responsibility update and this is available at 
  www.j-sainsburys.co.uk/news.

2010/11	Q1	Q2	H1	Q3	Q4	H2	FY
Sales growth including fuel (%)
Total	7.6	6.6	7.0	7.5	6.8	7.2	7.1
Like-for-like	4.6	4.3	4.4	5.4	4.2	4.9	4.7
Sales growth excluding fuel (%)
Total	4.4	5.2	4.8	6.0	3.5	5.0	4.9
Like-for-like	1.1	2.9	2.0	3.6	1.0	2.6	2.3

Store investment programme 2010/11:

2010/11	Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4	Total
Supermarkets
New		7	11	3	21
Replacements		(1)	(2)	(2)	(5)
Extensions	2	7	14	1	24
Convenience
New	1	12	13	21	47
Replacements		(1)			(1)

 

END

 

 

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