13th Jul 2005 09:00
Sainsbury(J) PLC13 July 2005 13 July 2005 J Sainsbury plc 2005 AGM Statement In his opening remarks at the Sainsbury's AGM being held today, Philip Hampton,Chairman, will outline the progress made by the company over the past year. He will emphasise that a key part of Sainsbury's strategy is going back to thebasics of the brand, offering customers outstanding food and great value formoney. By rebuilding the business around this principle, the company will beable to create long-term shareholder value. Philip said "When I started at Sainsbury's, the first priority was thestabilisation of the company to enable Justin and his team to concentrate onrunning the business well. It has been my job to ensure there have been nodistractions. "My Board colleagues and I believe that Justin King and his management team arethe right people and they are doing the right things. We believe the planoutlined last October is exactly the right way to return Sainsbury's tolong-term sustainable profitability. "However, there is no point in having great plans if you can not make them work.Your Board believes that incentives are vital to the delivery of these plans.Last year the management team had limited or no financial incentives linked tothe interests of you, the shareholders. The Board decided that we needed a newincentive plan, firmly tied to growth in both sales and profits. We consultedwidely in the design of a new incentive scheme - one that covers around 1,000colleagues and includes all our supermarket store managers. Everyone will bejudged by the same strict and stretching criteria. "Full details of the scheme were included in my letter to you and in our Reportand Accounts. The maximum level of payout will only be achieved if themanagement team delivers a level of growth not seen at Sainsbury's for more thana decade. Clearly if this is achieved it will also be good news for allshareholders. There will be no payments for failure; if profits and sales do notgrow, the incentives are worthless. Your Board sees this scheme as an integralpart of our recovery. "I would like to thank all of you for your loyalty to Sainsbury's, asshareholders and I hope customers. I would like to thank our colleagues fortheir hard work in a difficult year and all our stakeholders for their continuedsupport." Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaLynda Ashton PipWood+44 (0) 20 7695 7162 +44 (0) 20 7695 6127 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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