Sainsbury's investors eye sales as grocers step up focus on price cuts
Sainsbury's will be the latest supermarket to shed light on how its sales have fared in recent months as grocers battle to lure in squeezed shoppers amid rising food inflation.
The UK's second largest supermarket chain will publish its first quarter trading update on Tuesday.
It has not been immune to competition heating up among UK retailers in recent months, several of whom have come under pressure to cut prices to reel in consumers struggling with a higher cost of living.
The shift has partly been sparked by Asda promising its biggest price cuts in 25 years while discounters Aldi and Lidl continue to take on larger rivals with low-cost products.
Both Tesco and Sainsbury's have Aldi Price Match lines, offering hundreds of products price-matched to Aldi across stores.
Sainsbury's recently said it had more products in the scheme than any other retailer with around 800 items from fresh and cupboard food to wine and toiletries.
A group of analysts for AJ Bell pointed out that Sainsbury's shares were 'nudging toward their highest mark in a year, and they are not that far from their five-year Covid-inspired high either'.
'This suggests that fears of a supermarket price war, spearheaded perhaps by Asda, are yet to be realised,' they said.
The analysts noted that recent data from the Office for National Statistics showed food and non-alcoholic drink prices rose by 4.4% in the year to May – the highest level in more than a year.
Investors will be keen to see how the group's sales have fared in recent months, since reporting a 4.2% increase in full-year sales, excluding fuel, back in April.
At the time, it predicted its profits to be flat in the year ahead as stronger sales volumes were expected to be offset by weaker profitability amid the investment in price cuts.
This means that underlying profits should come in at about £1 billion for the year to the end of March 2026.
Investors will also be watching out for any update to its annual forecast on Tuesday.
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