11th Jul 2007 09:00
Sainsbury(J) PLC11 July 2007 11 July 2007 J Sainsbury plc 2007 AGM Statement In his opening remarks today at Sainsbury's AGM, Philip Hampton, chairman, willannounce the appointment of Mary Harris as a new non-executive director and MikeCoupe as a new executive director (1). Mary Harris and Mike Coupe join theBoard on 1 August 2007. Mary Harris is currently a non-executive director ofTNT NV and has held previous executive roles at McKinsey and PepsiCo. MikeCoupe has been Sainsbury's trading director and has been on the operating boardsince 2004. He has over 20 years of retail experience including positions atTesco, Asda and Iceland. Commenting on the results for 2006/07 Philip will say, "I am delighted to saythat we have delivered another strong performance and our recovery is ahead ofplan. Since March 2005, we have grown sales by an additional £1.8 billion withover £1 billion delivered in the last financial year. This means that we areahead of our target to grow sales by £2.5 billion by March 2008. It isespecially pleasing that this strong sales performance is increasingly reflectedin improved profits. Our underlying profit before tax for the year was £380million, an increase of 42.3 per cent on the previous year. "As our performance continues to improve we are recommending increasing thefinal dividend by 25.6 per cent to 7.35 pence per share. This will take thefull year dividend to 9.75 pence per share, an increase of 21.9 per centcompared to last year. In line with our previously stated objective thedividend is covered 1.5 times by underlying earnings. Going forward we expectdividend cover to be in the range of 1.5 times and 1.75 times." Justin King, chief executive, will present the operational and financial resultsfor 2006/07, and present the new targets that the management team will work todeliver over the next three years. In his presentation to shareholders he willsay, "Our vision is simple; we are here to serve customers well with a choice ofgreat products at fair prices and by so doing, to provide shareholders withstrong, sustainable financial returns. This has driven everything we have donesince we outlined our Making Sainsbury's Great Again ("MSGA") recovery plan inOctober 2004. "Over the year we grew like-for-like sales excluding fuel by 5.9 per centdelivering our ninth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth in thefourth quarter of the year. This result represented growth on growth on growthand demonstrated continued improvement and momentum. We have already announcedour quarter one results for 2007/08 demonstrating this momentum has beenmaintained. "We have recently announced new three-year targets which build on the strongprogress we've made to date and move us from recovery to sustainable growth.The new three-year targets overlap the final year of our MSGA recovery plan andrun until March 2010. Our focus on driving sales continues with a target todeliver £3.5 billion of additional sales growth between March 2007 and March2010, split two-thirds from grocery and one-third from non-food. "Our current store estate provides substantial development opportunities and weintend to extend a further 75 stores by March 2010. We're also actively seekingand developing a pipeline of new stores. Our target is to grow space by ten percent over the next three years, which will be split equally across grocery andnon-food ranges. This goal enables us to continue to develop a great food offerwhile also growing total space for non-food ranges." In closing the AGM, Philip will thank shareholders for their continued support. Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaElliot Jordan +44 (0) 20 7695 4931 Pip Wood +44 (0) 20 7695 6127 Notes 1. Refer to separate release dated 11 July 2007. 2. The AGM will take place at 11:00am on 11 July 2007 at The QEII Conference Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
Sainsbury's