29th Mar 2006 07:02
Sainsbury(J) PLC29 March 2006 29 March 2006 Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 12 weeks to 25 March 2006 Highlights • Fourth quarter total sales up 6.7 percent (6.5 percent excluding petrol) (3) • Fourth quarter like-for-like sales up 5.7 percent (5.3 percent excluding petrol) (3) • Fifth quarter of consecutive like-for-like sales growth • Customer numbers grown by over one million during second half • Ongoing investment in customer offer with grocery deflation at 2.2 percent Trading Justin King, chief executive, said: "This has been a significant quarter forSainsbury's with like-for-like sales excluding petrol up 5.3 percent giving usour fifth consecutive quarter of sales growth. This is an important stage in ourrecovery and we are pleased that our progress is also confirmed by good marketshare growth over the same period of time (4). We have delivered a solid firstyear and are on track in our Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan but still havea long way to go. The sales growth announced today shows that customers arenoticing the many improvements we have been making to our business. Over 16million customers are now shopping in our stores each week, an additional onemillion in the last six months. "There was 2.2 percent deflation in grocery during the quarter as we havecontinued to ensure our pricing position is maintained and strengthened withover 1,000 prices lowered in the last 12 weeks. "As announced on 21 March 2006, Tim Pile stepped down as chief executive officerof Sainsbury's Bank. Trading at the Bank remains in line with the previousguidance issued at our Interim results last November. Making Sainsbury's Great Again "In February we launched our Active Kids programme for the second year. Thisprovides schools with sporting equipment and experiences in return for vouchersearned in store. We attracted 25,000 schools in 2005, 80 percent of all UKprimary and secondary schools, and donated over £17 million of sports equipment.The 2006 scheme has started strongly with 30,000 schools and nurseries nowregistered. "We are committed to giving customers great products at fair prices. We havecontinued to invest in raising quality standards and developing products thatprovide customer benefits such as bagged salad, which has been washed in naturalspring water. We launched our Kids range in February becoming the first retailerto provide Guideline Daily Amounts (GDAs) for children aged 5-10 years onproduct packaging. This is being extended across other own brand products. OurWheel of Health icon, launched in January 2005 and which uses a multiple trafficlight approach, is now on 1,200 products and is fully endorsed by the FSA. "Our SO organic range, launched last September, has helped us grow our own-brandmarket share and regain the number one market position earlier this month. In amarket first we are also selling milk from British farms converting to organicstandards. The rising demand for organic milk currently outstrips UK supply sowe are working with farmers to cover the additional associated costs duringconversion as well as offering 12-month supply contracts once the milk isorganic. Sainsbury's is a long-standing supporter of the Fairtrade mark and theUK's leading Fairtrade supermarket. We achieved our best ever week with salesof over £1 million during Fairtrade Fortnight and have introduced many newproducts such as the UK's first Fairtrade baby food. In February we placed theUK's single largest Fairtrade cotton order for 200,000 T-shirts in support ofour sponsorship of Sport Relief this July. "Roger Burnley joined us in January 2006 and now has full accountability for oursupply chain. Lawrence Christensen will continue to work with us on a part-timebasis. Over the last 18 months Lawrence has driven immense change resulting inhuge improvements in the effectiveness of our supply chain operations and inproduct availability for our customers. During the quarter we opened three new,extended one and refurbished 12 supermarkets. We also opened nine andrefurbished 22 convenience stores. "Last week we announced that we had completed our refinancing transaction. Atotal of £2.07 billion was raised through the issue of two Commercial MortgageBacked Securities and we purchased all outstanding unsecured bonds. At the sametime we made a payment of £110 million into our pension schemes, with thebalance of the £350 million one-off contribution expected to be paid in May2006." 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) Sales growth is detailed below: 2005/06 Q1 Q2 H1 Q3 Q4 H2 FYSales growth including petrol (%)Total 5.7 6.6 6.2 5.6 6.7 6.1 6.1Lfl 1.9 4.1 3.1 4.8 5.7 5.3 4.1Sales growth excluding petrol (%)Total 5.3 5.4 5.3 5.9 6.5 6.2 5.8Lfl 1.3 2.8 2.1 5.2 5.3 5.3 3.7 (3) To reflect the underlying sales growth, where appropriate, adjustmentshave been made to the comparative numbers: - Q1 2004/05 was adjusted for Easter - Q3 2004/05 was adjusted to reflect a normal Saturday trading rather than a reduced New Year's Day trade. - Q4 2004/05 has been adjusted to reflect a reduced trading day at the start of the period similar to New Year's Day. In addition the comparatives have been adjusted for Easter, as Easter does not fall in this reporting period, whereas last year the quarter ended on Saturday of the Easter period (4) As measured by TNS on a 12 weekly basis compared with the previous yearsince January 2005. This shows 15 consecutive periods of market share growth. (5) Sainsbury's will announce its Preliminary results for the year ended 25March 2006, on 17 May 2006. (6) We will be holding a conference call for analysts and investors at 8:45(BST). To listen to the audio webcast: please visit www.j-sainsbury.co.uk from8:15 (BST) and follow the on-screen instructions. The archive of this eventwill be available from 12:00 BST today in the form of a delayed webcast. Toview the transcript of the conference call, go to www.j-sainsbury.co.uk on 31March 2006 Enquiries: Investor Relations MediaLynda Ashton Pip Wood+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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