Sainsbury’s To Report Growth, But Low Price Chains Grow More ff
6 October 2008
United Kingdom Sainsbury’s is expected to report a 3.9 per cent rise in second-quarter underlying sales on Wednesday, up from the first quarter, but still lagging behind rivals.
Britain’s shoppers are curbing spending amid higher food and fuel costs, falling house prices and rising economic uncertainty.
Data from researchers TNS Worldpanel suggests Sainsbury’s - Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group - has lost a little market share in recent months to rivals more associated with cheaper prices, such as Wal-Mart’s Asda, Morrisons and discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Last week, Tesco posted a 4 per cent rise in underlying sales for its latest trading period, while Morrisons reported an 8.2 per cent increase last month.
Analysts are forecasting that Sainsbury’s will still make full-year underlying pre-tax profits of £528 million - up from £488million the year before.
