13th Jan 2005 07:01
Sainsbury(J) PLC13 January 2005 13 January 2005 J Sainsbury plc: Third Quarter Trading Statement for 12 weeks to 1 January 2005 Key Points • Quarter 3 total sales growth of 6.1 percent (2.7 percent excluding petrol) • Quarter 3 like-for-like sales up 2.4 percent (-1.2 percent excluding petrol) • Like-for-like sales for 4 weeks to 1 January up 2.5 percent (-0.4 percent excluding petrol) • Improved product availability and customer service Justin King, chief executive, said: "Supermarket like-for-like sales growth forthis quarter was in line with quarter 2 and was supported by strong petrolsales. After a difficult November, there was an improving trend over theChristmas and New Year period, which is encouraging given the toughercomparatives for the same period last year. This sales performance was in linewith our plans and was a good first step in delivering our sales led recovery. "We were particularly pleased with the levels of availability and customerservice achieved over the Christmas period. We are committed to makingcontinuous improvements to our operations and have put a number of actions inplace to ensure progress, particularly around product availability and storelabour. Our customers are starting to see the benefit. The additional costs forlabour, depots and waste, which we announced on 19 October 2004, continuedthroughout quarter 3 and will continue in the fourth quarter. "The market was very competitive in the third quarter and early indications arethat the fourth quarter will be challenging with renewed pricing activity. Weare continuing to invest in the customer offer, providing great quality productsat fair prices and have improved our competitive pricing position. Since thistime last year, we have lowered the prices of 6,000 products and our overridingobjective is to deliver a competitive offer for our customers." Sainsbury's Bank delivered net income growth of around 20 percent in quarter 3,which was below expectations in an increasingly competitive market. In additiona more conservative approach to provisioning has been adopted given the stronggrowth in assets. This week centrally based colleagues were updated on the proposals to introducea more effective and efficient central structure. As previously announced it isanticipated that 750 roles will be removed by April 2005. Redeployment to storebased roles has been offered to all central colleagues who face redundancy. Therecruitment of an extra 3,000 store colleagues has now largely been completed. Notes 1. Like-for-like sales for the comparative 4 weeks ending 3 January 2004were 2.0 percent (2.1 percent excluding petrol) 2. Sales growth is detailed below:2004/05 Q1 Q2 H1 Q3Sales growth including petrol (%)Total 2.3 4.4 3.5 6.1Lfl 1.0 1.8 1.5 2.4Lfl inflation / (deflation) 0.5 -0.5 -0.1 -0.8 Sales growth excluding petrol (%)Total 0.8 1.5 1.3 2.7Lfl -0.6 -1.1 -0.9 -1.2Lfl inflation / (deflation) 0.2 -1.1 -0.5 -1.2 3. Our fourth quarter pre-close trading statement will be made on 24 March2005. Enquiries: Investor Relations: +44 (0) 20 7695 7162 Media: +44 (0) 20 7695 6127Roger Matthews Pip WoodLynda Ashton Gillian Taylor A conference call for analysts and investors will take place at 8:30GMT. To listen to the 8:30 GMT Conference Call via the web: Visit www.sainsburys.co.uk, select "company info" and follow the instructions onscreen. As an alternative you can access this information directly fromwww.j-sainsbury.co.uk. The archive of the webcast will be available from 11:00GMT. To view the transcript of the Conference Call: Go to www.j-sainsbury.co.uk during the week beginning 17 January 2005. This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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