Sainsbury's out-trades Tesco on UK food sales
Retail giants' results set to show a marked difference in performance
Sunday 10 June 2012
Related articles
The diverging performance of Britain's two biggest food retailers will again be laid bare this week, when Sainsbury's posts underlying sales ahead of Tesco in the UK.
Market-leader Tesco is set to deliver a fall of 1.7 per cent in UK like-for-like sales in its first quarter to 26 May, which will reinforce the pressure on chief executive Philip Clarke. In contrast, Sainsbury's trading period covers the entire Jubilee bank holiday, so its chief executive Justin King will be quizzed on the country's patriotic spending splurge.
While Sainsbury's will provide a host of data about sales of party food, champagne and miles of bunting, economists will also scrutinise Mr King's comments for signs that any feelgood impact from the celebrations could boost moribund consumer confidence.
City analysts have pencilled in a 1.6 per cent rise in underlying sales for Sainsbury's for the 12 weeks to 9 June, although this will mark a slowdown on the 2.6 per cent growth in the grocer's fourth quarter.
While Sainsbury's outperformed listed rivals Tesco and Morrisons over recent months, Asda – the UK's second biggest grocer including non-food – delivered a 2.2 per cent rise in sales in its most recent quarter.
For Tesco, which operates in 14 countries, the expected fall in first-quarter trading on home soil, follows a drop in UK sales of 1.6 per cent in its fourth quarter and a sustained period of under-performance. Mr Clarke, who took the helm in March 2011, also unveiled the grocer's first profit warning in 20 years in January. Its share price has not yet recovered.
He is expected to point to progress in his £1bn investment plan to turn around the spluttering performance of its domestic business. In addition to a positive impact from hiring 8,000 extra store staff, Mr Clarke is likely to highlight an improvement in the performance on its Everyday Value range, which replaced its Value range in the spring.
Clive Black, the analyst at Shore Capital, said: "This first quarter statement is important if only to reveal that Philip Clarke's plan to revitalise an underperforming Tesco UK is making progress and delivering stability."
Tesco, which had profits of £3.9bn last year, is expected to deliver a strong rise in total sales, boosted by its rapid store opening programme overseas.
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 News in pictures
- 3 Leveson threatened to quit after public attack by Gove
- 4 In pictures: The bewildering face of China
- 5 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 6 Ed Miliband: 'Cameron is the last gasp of the old guard'
- 7 Savers start a 'jog' on Europe's banks as Greece votes
- 8 For whom the bell tolls: £20m 'Memo' project takes shape on Dorset's Jurassic coast
- 9 Still standing: George Galloway reveals why his staunchly Leftist outlook is still invariably right
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness
- 1 Massive stage collapse before Radiohead concert kills one
- 2 Patrick Cockburn: Greece's day of reckoning dawns in a climate of anger and uncertainty
- 3 The Blagger's Guide To: The best (and worst) fathers
- 4 We just click: How Lego keeps building on its success
- 5 Revealed: Harry Potter is the Antichrist!
- 6 The Leveson Inquiry: We're in this together!
- 7 Osborne: The people’s damning verdict
- 8 David Flatman: Over and out
- 9 Frank Zimmerman and me: The truth about the troll who tormented Louise Mensch
- 10 Aung San Suu Kyi: A lesson in the value of kindness

Experience the Heineken Hub
Get free wi-fi and exclusive i content while you enjoy a tasty pint of Heineken at participating pubs.

Win a sumptuous three-night stay in Austria
Get away from it all in the fresh mountain air at the four-star Hotel Edelweiss & Gurgl.

Win a five-star foodie weekend to Liège
Spend two nights in gourmet heaven at a top hotel in the capital of French-speaking Belgium.

A home to be proud of with Halifax
Download the Halifax's brilliant, free new Home Finder app, and take all the pain out of finding your dream home

Playing a game-changing role during the Games
Cisco is providing the solutions for London 2012's complex IT needs.

Enter the latest Independent competitions
Win anything from gadgets to five-star holidays on our competitions and offers page.

Business videos from commercial thought leaders
Watch the best in the business world give their insights into the world of business.
Career Services
Day In a Page

Still standing: George Galloway

Daniel Radcliffe as drug-taking Beatnik poet

Objets czar: David Usborne’s collection of myriad objects

World's richest woman: Gina Rinehart

Comments