TIDMSBRY
RNS Number : 3085M
Sainsbury(J) PLC
11 January 2023
11 January 2023
Third Quarter Trading Statement for the 16 weeks to 7 January
2023
Strategy delivering volume market share gains and record
Christmas
Trading Highlights
Christmas and Q3 Grocery volume performance ahead of the market
for the third consecutive year(1) , driven by investment in value,
innovation, service and availability. General Merchandise growth
stronger than expected, reflecting market share gains(2) as
customers trusted Sainsbury's and Argos for value and the speed and
certainty of Argos Fast Track delivery and Click & Collect.
-- Q3 retail (exc. fuel) sales up 5.2%. Like-for-like sales up
5.9%, reflecting inflation and relatively resilient volume
trends
-- Q3 Grocery sales up 5.6% and General Merchandise sales up
4.6%. Grocery sales 12.5% ahead of pre-pandemic levels
-- Christmas sales up 7.1%, with Grocery sales up 7.1%, General
Merchandise sales up 7.4% and Clothing sales up 5.1%
-- Profits expected to be towards upper end of guidance range GBP630m to GBP690m(3)
-- Retail free cash flow expected to be around GBP600m, ahead of
previous guidance of at least GBP500m(4)
YoY Sales Growth Yo3Y Sales Growth
-----------------------------------
Total sales performance Q3 Christmas Q3 Christmas
16 weeks to 6 weeks to 16 weeks to 6 weeks to
7 Jan 23 7 Jan 23 7 Jan 23 7 Jan 23
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Grocery 5.6% 7.1%(5) 12.5% 14.7%
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
General Merchandise 4.6% 7.4% (6.9%) (2.2%)
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Argos 4.5% 7.1% (5.0%) (0.4%)
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Sainsbury's GM 5.4% 9.1% (15.6%) (10.0%)
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Clothing 1.3% 5.1% 0.4% 14.6%
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Total Retail (exc. fuel) 5.2% 7.1%(5) 6.7% 9.6%
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Like-for-like sales (exc. Fuel) 5.9%
-------------- ------------ -------------- ------------
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said:
"We delivered the best possible Christmas for customers as
millions of households managed their budgets differently, hosting
larger gatherings again and treating themselves at home. Customers
shopped early, buying Christmas treats and fizz more than once and
looked for deals, taking advantage of Black Friday and other
seasonal offers. Argos offered great value and quality and, as
train and postal strikes disrupted the country, customers
appreciated its reliability and convenience.
"We prioritised keeping our prices low and giving our customers
great value at Christmas. We went bold on the traditional fresh
turkey roast dinner with all the trimmings and dessert, which was
the best value in the market at under GBP4 per head. Sales were
also boosted by the World Cup as people celebrated more at home.
Our determined focus on delivering the best value alongside new and
exciting festive food plus outstanding customer service and
availability meant we delivered record sales, and market
outperformance at both Sainsbury's and Argos.
"We understand money will be exceptionally tight this year
particularly as many people wait for Christmas bills to land. We
are working together with our suppliers to battle cost inflation
and we're keeping prices low again this year with our biggest value
campaign yet in January, price matching Aldi on around 300 of our
most popular products.
"Finally, a huge thank you to all my colleagues who really do
make the difference for our customers. We announced a market
leading pay rise for our front line colleagues last week to GBP11
per hour (GBP11.95 in London) and an additional six months of free
food in stores and depots. I am hugely grateful to all our team and
suppliers for their hard work and support in delivering these
results."
Outlook
Investment in value, innovation, service and product
availability delivered stronger volume trends across Grocery and
General Merchandise, particularly at Christmas. We will
additionally benefit from finance costs around GBP15 million lower
than previously guided, broadly offset by the cost of a significant
colleague pay increase ahead of the year end annual pay review. As
a result, while we remain cautious on the consumer backdrop, we now
expect underlying profit before tax for the year to March 2023 to
be towards the upper end of the guidance range of GBP630 million to
GBP690 million. We additionally expect to generate retail free
cashflow of around GBP600 million, ahead of our previous guidance
of at least GBP500 million.
Strategic Highlights
Food First : Our strategic investments in value, innovation,
service and availability have driven volume market share gains over
Q3 and the key Christmas period(6) , with customers choosing
Sainsbury's to help them create a special celebration.
Value:
-- We continue to inflate behind the market(7) and have improved
our value position against all key competitors(8) . In November we
accelerated our value plan and announced a further GBP50 million
investment in low prices by March 2023, bringing the total
investment to GBP550 million
-- We delivered our most competitive Christmas ever, leading the
market with our great value Christmas roast dinner which was priced
at less than GBP4 per person. We performed strongly over Christmas
on key fresh food products, with market share outperformance in
Meat, Fish and Poultry, and Fruit and Vegetables(9)
-- Our Own Brand ranges performed strongly, as customers looked
for great value as well as festive treats, with overall sales
growth of 10 per cent(10) , and our entry price product range was
the fastest growing sub-brand
-- We have extended Aldi Price Match this January, now bigger
than ever with around 300 products, including more than 180 fresh
products and important household staples such as nappies, cereals
and canned soups
Innovation
-- We launched 300 new products for Christmas, including 145
Taste the Difference products and celebrated many Taste Test wins .
Standout new products included our Taste the Difference Mulled
Cider Glazed Gammon Joint, Salted Caramel and Belgian Chocolate
Wreath and Cherry and Almond Panettone
-- Taste the Difference outperformed our full choice supermarket
competitors' premium ranges(11) , with sales up 10 per cent year on
year and 27 per cent over three years(12) , as customers treated
themselves while celebrating Christmas at home
-- Taste the Difference Mince Pie sales increased 22 per cent,
Taste the Difference Panettone sales increased 49 per cent, and we
had record sales for Champagne and prosecco as customers shopped
our market leading offers on sparkling wines(13)
-- In January we launched Flourish, a new brand with a focus on
helping customers to eat better, with tasty and healthy options
such as salads, ready meals, fresh soups and smoothies
Service:
-- We invested in service and availability to deliver a great
Christmas offer, recruiting over 25,000 new colleagues to
Sainsbury's and Argos this Christmas and working more closely with
our suppliers than ever to deliver significant improvements in
availability. This supported leading supermarket customer
satisfaction scores(14)
-- We released Groceries Online Christmas home delivery slots
five weeks earlier than last year and delivered on Christmas Eve
for the first time. Customer satisfaction in Groceries Online for
Christmas week improved against last year(15)
-- We brought forward our annual pay increase and last week
announced a further GBP185 million investment in colleague pay and
benefits, increasing the base rate for our retail colleagues to
GBP11 per hour nationally and GBP11.95 in London from February
Brands that Deliver: Argos continues to gain market share(2) in
a tough general merchandise market, reflecting a reputation for
value, great product availability and the certainty for customers
of Argos for Fast Track home delivery and Click & Collect
fulfilment.
-- Argos performed exceptionally well over the key Christmas
week as customers turned to our stores in supermarkets for great
value and reliable, last minute Christmas gifting
-- Sales of technology products were particularly strong, driven
by improved availability and promotional activity in the run up to
the Football World Cup. Household categories performed well as
customers bought energy saving items such as air fryers and heated
laundry airers and Habitat branded products outperformed in home
and furniture
-- We started our Black Friday awareness campaign earlier this
year and delivered sales ahead of last year, with over 120 million
visits to the Argos website over the campaign period(16) and 15,000
orders processed per hour on Black Friday itself
-- Cold weather towards the end of the quarter drove an uplift
in sales for Tu Clothing, with knitwear and Christmas pyjamas
particularly popular with customers
-- We helped customers to boost their Nectar point balances with
enhanced personalised product offers on the Nectar app during the
lead up to Christmas and almost 900,000 customers redeemed their
points in Sainsbury's during Christmas week
-- We expanded the Nectar360 Retail Media network, announcing an
innovative Connected TV partnership with Channel 4
-- Financial Services has benefited from a continued increase in
demand, offset by increased provisioning due to the subdued
economic outlook
Plan for Better :
-- We launched our Nourish the Nation community programme in
November through which we are donating GBP4 million to Comic
Relief, FareShare and other key redistribution partners to support
local community food projects
-- We continue to work in partnership with Neighbourly and over
the Christmas period(17) our stores connected with local partners
to redistribute over 930,000 meals to those in need
-- This festive season, we removed single-use plastic lids from
our Christmas own-brand brandy butter and brandy cream range,
saving 679,000 pieces of plastic. We also replaced plastic with
foil trays for turkey crowns, saving over 210,000 pieces of
plastic
Like-for-like 2021/22 2022/23 YoY
sales performance
------------------------------------- -------------------------
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3
-------- -------- -------- -------- -------
Like-for-like
sales (excl. fuel) 1.6% (1.4%) (4.5%) (5.6%) (4.0%) 3.7% 5.9%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------
Like-for-like
sales (incl. fuel) 8.4% 3.0% 0.6% 2.7% 2.9% 7.7% 6.8%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------
Total sales 2021/22 2022/23 YoY 2022/23 Yo3Y
performance
------------------------------------- -------------------------
Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q1 Q2 Q3
-------- ------- ------ -------- --------
Grocery 0.8% 0.8% (1.1%) (1.6%) (2.4%) 3.8% 5.6% 8.7% 10.1% 12.5%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Total General
Merchandise (1.4%) (11.4%) (16.0%) (21.1%) (11.2%) 1.2% 4.6% (6.2%) (3.6%) (6.9%)
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
GM (Argos) (3.7%) (12.0%) (16.1%) (20.4%) (10.5%) 1.6% 4.5% (4.5%) (0.9%) (5.0%)
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
GM (Sainsbury's) 11.2% (8.0%) (15.7%) (24.1%) (14.6%) (1.3%) 5.4% (13.8%) (15.5%) (15.6%)
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Clothing 57.6% 9.2% (2.7%) (9.3%) (10.1%) (0.2%) 1.3% 3.9% 0.8% (0.4%)
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Total Retail
(excl. fuel) 1.6% (1.7%) (5.3%) (6.2%) (4.5%) 3.1% 5.2% 5.4% 6.7% 6.7%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Fuel 95.1% 36.1% 47.5% 80.1% 48.3% 29.1% 12.2% 26.9% 24.2% 16.2%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Total Retail
(incl. fuel) 8.5% 2.7% (0.1%) 2.2% 2.5% 7.2% 6.2% 8.9% 9.6% 8.0%
------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- ------ -------- -------- --------
Notes
Certain statements made in this announcement are forward-looking
statements. Such statements are based on current
expectations and are subject to a number of risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual events or results to
differ
materially from any expected future events or results referred
to in these forward-looking statements. Unless otherwise
required by applicable law, regulation or accounting standard,
we do not undertake any obligation to update or revise
any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new
information, future developments or otherwise.
A webcast presentation and live Q&A will be held at 9:30
(GMT). This will be available to view on our website at the
following link:
https://sainsbury-s-q3-trading-statement-2022-23.open-exchange.net/registration
A recorded copy of the webcast and Q&A call, alongside
slides and a transcript of the presentation will be available at
www.about.sainsburys.co.uk/investors/results-reports-and-presentations
following the event.
Sainsbury's will announce its Preliminary Results for the year
ending 4 March 2023 on 27 April 2023.
Enquiries
Investor Relations Media
James Collins Rebecca Reilly
+44 ( 0) 7801 813 074 +44 (0) 20 7695 7295
(1) Kantar Worldpanel division, Christmas = 4 weeks to 25
December 2022, 26 December 2021, 27 December 2020 and 29 December
2019. Total Grocery volume growth. Q3= 12 weeks to 25 December
2022, 26 December 2021, 27 December 2020 and 29 December 2019.
2 BRC data, 5 weeks to 31 Dec 2022. Argos differential, Total
NFNC (exc. H&B & stationery) sales
3 Underlying profit before tax for the financial year to March
2023
4 Retail free cash flow for the financial year to March 2023
5 Stores were open on Boxing Day 2022, but closed on Boxing Day
2021, contributing 0.9% Grocery sales growth to the 6 week
Christmas period
6 Kantar Worldpanel division, Christmas = 4 weeks to 25 December
2022 vs 26 December 2021. Q3 = 12 weeks to 25 December 2022 vs 26
December 2021
7 Nielsen panel data, Top 100 SKUs by retailer. Average Selling
Price YoY growth. 52 weeks to 10 December 2022
8 Value Reality. Sep-Jan 2023 vs Sep - Jan 2022; Edge by
Ascential; internal modelling
9 Nielsen EPOS YoY unit growth: Sainsbury's growth vs Total
Outlets growth for Meat, Fish Poultry and Produce categories. 4
weeks to 24 December 2022
10 Own Brand sales growth on a YoY basis: 6 weeks to 7 January
2023
11 Kantar world panel - Premium tier value performance 4 weeks
to 25 December 2022
12 Taste the Difference sales growth on a YoY and Yo3Y basis: 4
weeks to 24 December 2022
13 Taste the Difference Mince Pies and Panettones sales growth
on a YoY basis: 16 weeks to 7 January 2023
(14) Competitor benchmarking survey. Q3 22/23 Supermarket CSAT
scores 12 weeks to 10 December 2022.
(15) Sainsbury's CSAT programme, Lettuce Know, Groceries Online
overall score YoY for 1 week ended 24 December 22 vs 25 December
21
16 Black Friday Campaign: 2 to 29 November 2022
17 Christmas period = December
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
London Stock Exchange. RNS is approved by the Financial Conduct
Authority to act as a Primary Information Provider in the United
Kingdom. Terms and conditions relating to the use and distribution
of this information may apply. For further information, please
contact rns@lseg.com or visit www.rns.com.
RNS may use your IP address to confirm compliance with the terms
and conditions, to analyse how you engage with the information
contained in this communication, and to share such analysis on an
anonymised basis with others as part of our commercial services.
For further information about how RNS and the London Stock Exchange
use the personal data you provide us, please see our Privacy
Policy.
END
TSTBIGDBRXBDGXG
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 11, 2023 02:00 ET (07:00 GMT)
Sainsbury (j) (LSE:SBRY)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Feb 2023 a Mar 2023
Sainsbury (j) (LSE:SBRY)
Gráfica de Acción Histórica
De Mar 2022 a Mar 2023
