J Sainsbury sales boost amid horsemeat scandal

City Editor

Wednesday 20 March 2013

SUPERMARKET chain J Sainsbury has reaped the benefit of the horsemeat troubles enveloping rivals and the expansion of its convenience-store estate, posting like-for-like sales growth of 3.6% for the 10 weeks to March 16.

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TIM SHARP CITY EDITOR

Competitors such as market leader Tesco and number two Asda have discovered horsemeat in some products but none of Sainsbury's own-label items have so far turned up unexpected ingredients.

The chain, whose 34 supermarkets and 38 convenience stores make it the fourth-largest grocer in Scotland, said it has carried out DNA testing on its products for the past decade.

Chief executive Justin King said: "There has been a significant move from frozen (meat items) where most, if not all the horse meat has been found."More generally what we have seen, as you would expect, is a movement towards meat that is recognisably meat: steaks rather than meat; chicken breasts rather than a ready meal with a chicken breast in."Mr King noted sales of its recently relaunched own-label By Sainsbury range, which includes many of its meat products, had risen 9%.However, he insisted the horsemeat problems in themselves could not account for the retailer's full sales increase. Sainsbury's saw total sales for its fourth quarter rise 6.3%, excluding sales, and customer transactions grew to 22.9 million a week, up 800,000 year-on-year.For the full year, total sales rose 4.3% and 1.8% on a like-for-like basis.Philip Dorgan, analyst at Panmure Gordon said: "This is a very strong performance, helped to an extent by (Wm) Morrison's under-performance and horse-gate, which will have impacted Tesco."Sainsbury's is also thought to have benefited from its Brand Match campaign that gives customers a voucher if they could have bought their branded items cheaper at its main rivals.But it now faces pressure from market leader Tesco, which has launched a Price Promise, offering a similar voucher offer that also includes comparison of own-label products.But Mr King said it would stick to its approach and questioned whether it was possible to compare own-brand items.Sainsbury's said its convenience store business was growing at more than 18% year-on-year, driven by a combination of new space and like-for-like sales growth, while online grocery sales were increasing nearly 20% year-on-year.John Ibbotson, director of retail consultancy Retail Vision, said: "Sainsbury's has beaten arch-rivals Tesco, Asda and Morrisons hands down."Yes, Sainsbury's has emerged untainted from the horsemeat scandal with none of its own-label lines implicated, but its real achievement is to have remained faithful to its core customer and long-term trading strategy."Mr King called on Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to use his Budget to give employers' a National Insurance holiday for the new employees they hire."We do not think he is doing enough to support creation," he said.Qatar Investment Authority is a 26% shareholder in Sainsbury's but the company declined to comment on the fund's reported interest in buying Marks & Spencer.Sainsbury's shares closed up 6.25p at 371.4p.

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J Sainsbury sales boost amid horsemeat scandal

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