10th Oct 2007 07:01
Sainsbury(J) PLC10 October 2007 10 October 2007 Second Quarter Trading Statement for 16 weeks to 6 October 2007 Highlights • Total sales for second quarter up 3.8 per cent (4.7 per cent excluding fuel)• Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 2.6 per cent (3.1 per cent excluding fuel)• Eleventh consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth• Like-for-like sales for the first half up 3.3 per cent (4.0 per cent excluding fuel) Justin King, chief executive, said: "We are pleased to report thatlike-for-like sales in the second quarter, excluding fuel, grew by 3.1 per cent.This result represents strong sales growth in a quarter with some very toughcomparatives, particularly during the first six weeks where exceptionally warmweather helped to deliver additional growth across the business last year. Ourtwo-year like-for-like growth remains at around ten per cent, building on theexcellent results delivered last year. Total sales for the second quarter,excluding fuel, grew by 4.7 per cent as we continued to outperform the grocerymarket. (1) "Growth in customer transactions continues to drive an increase in customerspending. Volumes remained strong over the first half as we deliveredlike-for-like sales growth, excluding fuel, of 4.0 per cent, in line with ourexpectations for the current year. "We maintained our competitive position during the quarter reducing prices onanother 7,000 products and also reinforced our strong heritage in qualityproducts, launching our 'Different Values' campaign. We are proud to announcetoday that our entire range of own-brand tea will become 100 per cent Fairtradeover the next three years. This will make Sainsbury's the UK's biggestFairtrade tea retailer and will triple Fairtrade tea sales in the UK. This isof a similar and significant scale as the conversion of all our bananas toFairtrade, which was completed during this quarter. It will create an increasedreturn of around £2 million each year for developing countries. The first teato be converted will be Sainsbury's Red Label tea, a 100-year-old brand, whichstill comes from the same supplier over a century later. "We were delighted to be named 'Supermarket of the Year' for the second yearrunning at the Retail Industry Awards last month. (2) In winning this award wewere acknowledged by the judges for being "at the leading edge of food". Wealso received awards highlighting the achievements we have made within our freshproduce, seafood and beers, wines and spirits offering. "We are increasing the capacity of our supply chain, enabling us to delivergreater operational flexibility and meet future volume growth. Our new depot inNorthampton will open later this month. The depot is the UK's most energyefficient distribution centre using half the energy of similar buildings. Theenvironmental initiatives at the site include its own power plant providing asignificant proportion of the electricity required for the depot and rainwatercollection which will reduce water consumption by half. "As announced last week, we will be relocating our store support centre to KingsCross in London from early 2011. This move is driven primarily to removeunnecessary cost within the business and the transfer will significantly reduceour central office costs from 2011/12. The building will boast some impressiveenvironmental credentials which support our aim to reduce energy use across ourbusiness. "We have delivered a good first half sales performance in line with ourexpectations for the current year despite the poor summer weather. The marketremains competitive but our business continues to operate from a strongposition, delivering growth and operational improvements each quarter. Weremain ahead of our Making Sainsbury's Great Again three-year target to growsales by £2.5 billion by March 2008, having now delivered £2.3 billion ofadditional sales and we are confident in our ability to deliver the new spaceand sales growth targets which we outlined in May 2007." Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaElliot Jordan Pip Wood+44 (0) 20 7695 4931 +44 (0) 20 7695 6127 Notes (1) Based on TNS total grocers on a 12 week period to 9 September 2007. (2) Announced on 27 September 2007 at the 2007 Retail Industry Awards. (3) Certain statements made in this announcement are forward lookingstatements. Such statements are based on current expectations and are subjectto a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differmaterially from any expected future events or results referred to in theseforward looking statements. Unless otherwise required by applicable law,regulation or accounting standard, we do not undertake any obligation to updateor revise any forward looking statements, whether as a result of newinformation, future developments or otherwise. (4) A conference call will take place at 8.45am BST. To listen to the audiowebcast we recommend that you register in advance. To do so please visitwww.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.uk on 12October 2007. (5) Sainsbury's will announce its interim results on 14 November 2007. (6) Sales results for the year to date:2007/08 Q1 Q2 H1 Sales growth including petrol (%)Total 5.7 3.8 4.7Lfl 4.4 2.6 3.3 Sales growth excluding petrol (%)Total 6.7 4.7 5.7Lfl 5.1 3.1 4.0 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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