21st Jun 2006 07:01
Sainsbury(J) PLC21 June 2006 21 June 2006 First Quarter Trading Statement for 12 weeks to 17 June 2006 Highlights • Total sales for quarter one up 8.1 percent (6.7 percent excluding petrol) (2) • Like-for-like sales for quarter one up 7.1 percent (5.7 percent excluding petrol) (2) • Recovery remains on track: sixth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth Trading Justin King, chief executive, said: "This quarter is a good start to the secondyear of our Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan. Like-for-like sales were up5.7 percent (2), we have continued to grow sales ahead of the market (3) and ourrecovery remains on track. We are now providing a much better and moreconsistent shopping experience. We have listened to customers and responded towhat's important to them. We've continued our investment in lower prices,raised quality standards and developed new products and our sales performancecontinues to reflect the restored confidence customers now have in our abilityto deliver great products at fair prices. "Our good sales performance is enabling us to invest more back into our offer,improving our relative price position and driving further improvements forcustomers. This is reflected in the level of grocery deflation during thequarter which was 0.9 percent, as we have continued to reduce prices despiteunderlying cost pressures. A combination of warm weather and additional salesof products related to the World Cup, where Sainsbury's is official supermarketof the England football team, has led to a particularly good trading performanceduring the past couple of weeks after the sector generally experienced a slowerlevel of growth after Easter. Going forward we are up against toughercomparatives and the market continues to be very competitive although wecontinue to believe our underlying sales performance can achieve the goaloutlined in our Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan. Making Sainsbury's Great Again "There's a clear trend in customers wanting more information about the food theyeat. Our Wheel of Health nutritional labelling is now on over 1,700 productsand we continue to add it to more products every week. Using red, amber andgreen colour coding is welcomed by customers. It challenges the choice ofingredients we use helping us to improve the nutritional content of ourproducts. Adopting this route shows how serious we are about helping customersunderstand what is in their food and around 80 percent of customers tell us thelabelling helps them to decide which products to buy. "Our focus on fresh food also sets us apart from competitors particularly asBritish products come into season. We're working with British farmers to helpextend growing seasons and have been the first retailer to get a variety ofBritish produce into stores in recent weeks. British strawberries, raspberries,tomatoes, onions and asparagus are now in our stores as part of our ongoingcommitment to provide locally produced food that is in season and at its bestfor customers. "Product quality is an inherent part of our brand and we're delighted to havebeen chosen to provide the picnic tea for the special 'Children's Party at ThePalace' being held at Buckingham Palace this Sunday as part of the Queen's 80thbirthday events. Designed to celebrate traditional and contemporary Britishfood, we have worked with around 20 of our regional UK suppliers to provide theroyal picnic tea. "An outstanding success this quarter has been our Active Kids programme whichprovides schools with sporting equipment and experiences in return for vouchersearned in store. We extended the programme into nurseries and special needsschools this year and increased the rewards on offer. Over 30,000 schools andnurseries registered and we have seen a good uplift in the number of voucherscollected. As a result we expect to deliver during the autumn termsignificantly more equipment to schools this year than the £17 million suppliedin 2005. We also sponsor the Sainsbury's Sport Relief Mile, which takes place on15 July, and we are selling a range of exclusive merchandise to support theevent. Sainsbury's colleagues throughout the UK are taking part in a wide rangeof fundraising activities. "Last week we opened our 100th online store in Hedge End, in Southampton, takingour coverage of the UK to 80 percent. During the quarter we also refurbished 29stores, 14 supermarkets and 15 convenience stores and opened four newconvenience stores." Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaLynda Ashton Pip Wood+44 (0) 20 7695 7162 +44 (0) 20 7695 6127 Notes (1) 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. (2) Growth rates have been Easter adjusted. The adjustment adds the Eastertrading week to the comparator number in 2005/06. (3) As measured by TNS on a 12 weekly basis compared with the previous year. (4) Sainsbury's will announce its second quarter trading results for 16 weeksto 7 October 2006 on 11 October 2006. (5) A conference call will take place at 8.45 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-screeninstructions. To view the transcript of the conference call, go towww.j-sainsbury.co.uk on 23 June 2006. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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