# Sainsbury’s reports FY 2025/26 results with grocery sales up 5.2%

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/sainsbury-s-reports-fy-202526-results-with-grocery-sales-up-5-2/4121249804
- Published: 2026-04-23T07:38:44+01:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**[J Sainsbury plc](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/j-sainsbury/sbry.l)**(
LON:SBRY) has announced its preliminary results for the 52 weeks ended 28 February
2026

**Consistently delivering for customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders**

> **Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc**, **said**:
> “More and more customers are choosing Sainsbury’s for more of their shopping, 
> trusting us to deliver great value day in day out. The conflict in the Middle 
> East means customers are even more focused on the cost of living and we are absolutely
> committed to making sure everyone gets the best possible value when they shop 
> with us.
> “By staying relentlessly focused on the things that matter most – value, quality,
> availability and service – we have outperformed the market for the sixth year 
> in a row. Rather than pass through the full extent of cost inflation, we invested
> to sustain the strength of our competitive position while also refreshing stores,
> improving digital experiences and increasing colleague pay by five per cent.
> “We offer the biggest Aldi Price Match in the market, with great prices on everyday
> essentials and even more value through Nectar Prices and personalised Your Nectar
> Prices. Alongside our standout fresh food offer and the growing strength of Taste
> the Difference, we are well placed to be first choice for more customers.
> “Long term partnerships with thousands of farmers and suppliers are key to delivering
> good food at great value. We have committed to invest more than £5 billion in 
> British and Irish farming over the coming years, making our supply base more resilient
> at a time of increased challenges.
> “Our balanced choices reflect a consistent long-term approach to creating value
> for shareholders: strengthening our relationships with customers, colleagues and
> suppliers and building a stronger Sainsbury’s for the future.
> “We will do everything we can to support our customers and colleagues over the
> coming months, with absolute focus on keeping prices low. We have made a positive
> start to the new financial year, with continued strong Grocery momentum.
> “I would like to thank all our colleagues, farmers and suppliers for their brilliant
> commitment and hard work – it’s their dedication that makes such a difference 
> for our customers every time they shop with us.”

**Financial Highlights**

·      Sainsbury’s FY sales (excluding fuel) £25.9bn, up 4.9%, Argos FY sales £4.1bn,
up 0.7%, Fuel FY sales £3.6bn, down 8.2%

·      Grocery sales up 5.2%, with consistently strong volume growth and market 
share gains through the year

·      Retail underlying operating profit £1,025m, down 1.1%, reflecting significant
operating cost inflation and investment in value in a more competitive market. Argos
profits broadly in line with last year

·      Statutory profit after tax £393m, up 55.3%, primarily reflecting lower Financial
Services discontinued operations losses and restructuring costs, with non-underlying
items of £(115)m compared to £(251)m in the prior year

·      Retail free cash flow of £574m, up 8.1%, helped by strong working capital
management

·      Underlying earnings per share up 3.2%, reflecting higher profit and lower
average number of shares in issue as a result of our share buyback. Total basic 
earnings per share up 58.7%

·      Proposed full year dividend of 13.7 pence per share, up 0.7%

| **Financial Summary** | **FY 2025/26** | **FY 2024/25** | **YoY** | 
| **Business performance** | ** ** |  |  | 
| Retail sales (excl. VAT, excl. fuel)^(1) | **£29,992m** | £28,754m |  4.3% | 
| Retail underlying operating profit | **£1,025m** | £1,036m | (1.1)% | 
| Financial Services underlying operating profit^(2) | **£0m** | £(22)m | 100.0% | 
| Underlying profit before tax^(2) | **£718m** | £709m |  1.3% | 
| Underlying basic earnings per share^(2,3) | **22.3p** | 21.6p |  3.2% | 
| Proposed full-year dividend per share | **13.7p** | 13.6p |  0.7% | 
| Net debt (incl. lease liabilities)^(4) | **£(5,743)m** | £(5,758)m | £15m | 
| Non-lease net debt^(4) | **£(203)m** | £(264)m | £61m | 
| Return on capital employed | **8.9%** | 9.0% | (10)bps | 
|  | ** ** |  |  | 
| **Statutory performance** | ** ** |  |  | 
| Group revenue (excl. VAT, inc. fuel)^(2) | **£33,647m** | £32,772m |  2.7% | 
| Profit after tax^(2,3) | **£393m** | £253m |  55.3% | 
| o/w Continuing operations | **£414m** | £421m |  (1.7)% | 
| o/w Discontinued operations | **£(21)m** | £(168)m |  87.5% | 
| Total basic earnings per share^(3) | **17.3p** | 10.9p |  58.7% | 
| Net cash generated from operating activities (continuing)^(2) | **£1,774m ** | £802m  | £972m |

**2026/27 Outlook**

We are in a strong competitive position after another year of good progress. We 
have made a positive start to the new financial year, with grocery volume growth
ahead of the market. Argos trading continues to reflect a subdued general merchandise
market.

We will continue to make deliberate, balanced choices to sustain this strong competitive
position in the year ahead and expect to continue to outperform the grocery market.
The conflict in the Middle East will impact both our customers and our business.
The duration and extent of these impacts is very uncertain and this is reflected
in our profit guidance, where we currently expect to deliver Total underlying operating
profit of between £975 million and £1,075 million. We continue to expect to deliver
Retail free cash flow of more than £500 million.

**Capital Allocation**

·      In line with our progressive dividend policy, we paid ordinary dividends 
totalling £316 million in the year and completed a core share buyback of £200 million

·      We additionally completed the disposal of our banking operations and returned
£300 million of the net proceeds to shareholders through a £250 million special 
dividend and £50 million incremental share buyback

·      We will return an additional £100 million of the net proceeds this year alongside
a core buyback of £200 million, amounting to a total share buyback of £300 million

**Strategic Highlights**

As part of the Next Level Sainsbury’s plan that we set out in February 2024, we 
made eight commitments:

| ·      **Food volume growth** ahead of the market | ·      **Deliver profit leverage** from sales growth | 
| ·      **Customer satisfaction** higher 26/27 vs 23/24 | ·      **£1bn of cost savings** over three years to 26/27 | 
| ·      **Colleague engagement** higher 26/27 vs 23/24 | ·      **£1.6bn+ Retail free cash flow** over three years to 26/27 | 
| ·      Deliver our **Plan for Better commitments** | ·      **Higher return on capital employed** |

Reflecting on our progress two years into the plan, our balanced choices helped 
us make good progress against these commitments. We’ve invested to support our customers,
our colleagues, our farmers and our suppliers and we have sustained our strong competitive
position in an intensely competitive market^(5). More customers are trusting us 
to deliver our winning combination of value, quality, availability and service. 
As a result, we have delivered food volume growth ahead of the market for the sixth
consecutive year, reaching our highest volume market share in ten years^(6).

The underlying profit leverage from this volume outperformance was offset by investment
in our competitive position and by unusually high levels of operating cost inflation,
only partially mitigated through the delivery of a further £330 million of structural
cost savings. We delivered Retail free cash flow of £574 million, ahead of our expectations
and we remain on track to exceed £1.6 billion over the three-year plan. Whilst maintaining
that cash flow commitment, we are investing for future growth and to further strengthen
our competitive advantage. We have also delivered enhanced cash returns to shareholders,
with more than £800 million returned this year through dividends and share buybacks.

Our progress against the commitments is driven by four strategic outcomes: First
choice for food, Loyalty everyone loves, More Argos, more often and Save and invest
to win.

**First choice for food**

In a year where we faced an unusually high level of external cost pressures and 
a more competitive market, we were clear that our key objective was to sustain our
strong competitive position and that we expected to continue to outperform the market.
We delivered on this, making balanced choices throughout the year to maintain our
strong value position against all key competitors5 and deliver volume outperformance
in every quarter^(7).

More and more customers are choosing us for their big weekly shop^(8). We now have
around 1.2 million more big trolley primary customers than five years ago^(9) and
we continue to benefit from switching gains from competitors across the whole market
^(10).

Customers want to access more of our food range in more locations and we are investing
to grow our food footprint, rebalancing space towards fresh food in existing stores
and opening new stores in key target locations. At the same time, we are going further
to amplify the points of difference in our customer proposition, with a clear focus
on delivering greater personalisation, improving the shopping experience both in-
store and online and championing fresh food and innovation.

Our brand and heritage in fresh food sets us apart and as customers increasingly
look for healthy and sustainable options, our reputation for fresh, nutritious, 
high quality and well-sourced food means we are well placed to be first choice for
more customers. Our consistent delivery of great value at the centre of the plate
continues to drive outperformance versus the market in key fresh food categories
^(11), supported by our continued focus on innovation and quality.

We are using our scale, reach and capabilities to drive positive change across the
food system and are working closely with farmers and suppliers to strengthen the
supply of good food, help tackle climate, nature and labour challenges and raise
animal welfare standards. We are expanding our long-term partnership model so that
by 2027 we will be supporting more than 2,500 British and Irish farms with long-
term contracts. We have committed to invest more than £5 billion in British and 
Irish farming over the coming years.

**c.£1.3 billion invested over the last five years to deliver consistently great
value**

·      Maintained strong value position against all key competitors over the year
^(5)

·      Unique value combination continues to resonate with customers: biggest Aldi
Price Match in the market, more than 10,000 Nectar Price offers every week, personalised
Your Nectar Prices and Nectar points offers

·      Value investment focused on centre of the plate produce, dairy, meat, fish
and poultry items customers buy most often, including 17 per cent more centre of
the plate Aldi Price Match products year on year

·      Delivered continued market outperformance in fresh food categories^(11). 
Fresh food sales up eight per cent

**Taste the Difference – fastest growing Premium Own Label in the market**^(12)

·      Taste the Difference sales ahead of £2 billion target with Fresh food sales
up 16 per cent

·      More customers shopping bigger Taste the Difference baskets more frequently
^(13)

·      69 per cent of customers shopped both Aldi Price Match and Taste the Difference
in the same trolley^(14)

**Championing good food**

·      More than 1,200 new Own Brand products launched during the year, of which
around 50 per cent were Taste the Difference, including our new restaurant quality
Discovery range

·      Unique opportunity to support customers making healthy choices – increasing
focus on fibre and high-protein diets

·      Aldi Price Match now contains at least 75 per cent healthy and better for
you products

**Investing in colleagues and customer service**

·      Further investment in colleague wellbeing and development and pay and benefits,
increasing colleague pay by more than 40 per cent over the last five years

·      Continue to achieve high colleague engagement scores

·      Consistently leading the market on overall customer satisfaction in supermarkets
^(15)

·      Improvements across key metrics including value for money, product range,
quality and availability^(15)

**Opening new stores in key target locations**

·      Opened ten new supermarkets, including two Co-op conversions and three Homebase
conversions

·      Sales to date ahead of forecast and continue to expect strong returns

·      Additionally opened 33 new convenience stores, performing particularly well.
Sales in some standout stores more than 50 per cent ahead of expectations

·      Expect to open around ten new supermarkets in the year ahead and at least
20 new convenience stores, adding 0.5 per cent to sales growth in 2026/27

**Continued good progress with three-year ‘More for More’ plan**

·      Bringing the best of Sainsbury’s to more customers through allocating more
space to food, with selective investments in 70 supermarkets over the last two years,
delivering strong results

·      Customers are able to shop more of our food range, both in-store and through
our Groceries Online offer, adding an average of almost 1,000 additional food products

·      Invested stores performing ahead of the rest of our store estate, delivering
two per cent food volume growth outperformance in the second half and improving 
total trading intensity by more than five per cent

·      Will invest in around 30 further stores in the year ahead

**Delivering for customers however they want to shop with us**

·      Groceries Online^(16) sales up 13 per cent

·      Supported by growing contribution from OnDemand, with sales up 69 per cent
to more than £700 million and now covering 70 per cent of the UK population

·      Improving digital journey for customers by joining up Groceries Online, ChopChop
and SmartShop apps into one coherent app, creating the foundation for future personalisation
and AI-led experiences

·      Convenience store sales up three per cent, supported by outperformance of
new space and invested stores

·      Improved customer satisfaction in key metrics including value for money and
product range^(17), driven by reliable value through Aldi Price Match and fresh 
food range expansion

**Playing a leading role in creating a more sustainable food system**

·      Extended commitment to long-term partnerships with UK farmers, creating one
of the UK’s most extensive networks of multi-year farming agreements

·      60 per cent^(18) of own brand produce, meat, fish, dairy and poultry products
in long-term agreements with more than 2,500 British and Irish farms supported by
long-term contracts by early 2027

**Campaigning for good food for everyone so that no child or family goes hungry**

·      Raised more than £26 million since 2022 in partnership with Comic Relief.
Over 60 million meals donated and support provided to over two million people

·      Almost doubled the tonnage of edible surplus food being donated to local 
communities, preventing 11,030 tonnes of surplus food going to waste, a 49 per cent
increase year-on-year

**Refreshed Plan for Better commitments for packaging and human rights**

·      New packaging targets reflect rapid regulatory and structural change in UK
packaging sector, focusing our efforts on recyclability of materials to help improve
circularity

·      Refreshed Human Rights Policy and Saliency Assessment and delivered training
to over 100 colleagues and over 700 supplier representatives to help increase awareness
of human rights risks and strengthen due diligence

·      New international programme with Comic Relief to proactively help strengthen
climate adaptation, food security and resilience in key sourcing regions that are
highly vulnerable to climate impacts

**Strong growth and market outperformance in Tu Clothing**^(19)

·      Elevated style credentials^(20) and stronger availability delivers six per
cent Tu Clothing volume growth

·      Clothing sales up 4.8 per cent, with very strong Spring Summer offset by 
unseasonal second half weather

·      Outperformed Clothing market for seven consecutive quarters^(19), with online
sales growth of more than 20 per cent

**Streamlining Sainsbury’s General Merchandise**

·      Sainsbury’s General Merchandise sales down 3.2 per cent, primarily reflecting
expected volume decline driven by strategic choice to allocate more space to food

·      Strong progress in streamlining General Merchandise reflecting market-driven
shift of discretionary spend towards lower-priced categories

·      Easier-to-shop customer offer with better everyday value and product availability

·      Delivering higher trading intensity at a lower cost to serve – simpler store,
supplier and supply chain operations

**Smart Charge customer proposition improvements drive sales growth of 136 per 
cent**

·      Five new locations – 661 ultra-rapid electric vehicle charging bays now available
in 80 stores

·      Sales increase primarily driven by very strong like for like growth. More
and more customers shopping with Sainsbury’s whilst they charge, shopping with us
more often and benefiting from using Nectar with Smart Charge

**Loyalty everyone loves**

Customers can save more than £450 a year with Nectar, as well as collecting over
£170 of Nectar Points through our well-established value proposition of Nectar Prices,
personalised Your Nectar Prices, Nectar Offers and Nectar Points earned across a
coalition of partners. Nectar participation has reached its highest ever level, 
with digital engagement strengthening in particular, as customers recognise the 
benefits of personalised, rewarding and integrated loyalty and value when they shop
at Sainsbury’s.

The resulting growth of our loyal, primary customer base is central to the success
of the Nectar360 Retail Media business, which now supports over 900 clients and 
media agencies. We are increasingly well placed to capitalise on the strong forecast
growth of Retail Media in the UK through the high-returning investments we are making
in our capabilities. We remain ahead of plan to deliver at least £100 million of
incremental profit over the three years to March 2027.

**Nectar transforming the way that customers experience value. Further ambitions
for the year ahead**

·      Customers saved an average of £15.50 on an £80+ big weekly shop with Nectar
Prices during 2025/26

·      Nectar Prices has delivered more than £5.5 billion savings for customers 
since April 2023 launch

·      Your Nectar Prices now rolled out to cover all supermarket checkouts – previously
only available using Online and SmartShop

·      Key driver of record Nectar digital engagement with 35 per cent increase 
in digitally active users^(21)

**Setting the standard in Retail Media and Loyalty services**

·      Brands want to work with fewer, higher-quality networks. We are a partner
of choice with a reputation for scaled first-party data, omnichannel reach, sophisticated
closed-loop measurement capabilities and leading client service

·      Launched Nectar360 Pollen in the Autumn, the UK’s most advanced unified Retail
Media platform, connecting audience insight, planning, activation, optimisation 
and measurement in a single, easy-to-use platform that facilitates omnichannel advertising
in-store, onsite and offsite

·      Underway with client onboarding particularly amongst our largest grocery 
suppliers with excellent early feedback on the intuitive and forward-thinking nature
of the platform, the benefit of real-time audience building AI tools, efficiency
gains from more streamlined creative compliance process and market-leading measurement
tools which enable clearer ROI tracking and smarter decision making

**Growing Nectar network, capabilities and Coalition**

·      Connected digital screen network now almost 3,000 screens across supermarkets
and convenience stores. Plans to install a further 3,000 screens during the next
year

·      Continuing to develop our Retail Media capabilities, including exploring 
further opportunities within SmartShop

·      Growing the Nectar Coalition, launched partnerships with Marriott Bonvoy,
FareShare and Deliveroo and reward partnerships with Uber and Uber Eats

**More Argos, more often**

We have taken determined action to accelerate the transformation of Argos, balancing
our objective to improve the customer proposition with structural cost reduction
and greater efficiency in our supply chain.

We continue to invest in strategic initiatives to strengthen choice, availability
and service for customers and to build a stronger digital proposition, as well as
recently launching a new, more flexible, financial services offer, Argos Pay. Customer
satisfaction regarding value and range^(22) and brand consideration have improved
^(23) and have helped deliver growth in customer numbers and volumes. In a highly
competitive and subdued general merchandise market, volume growth was largely offset
by pricing pressure and higher participation of lower ticket items.

We have established a dedicated Argos management team to help accelerate the pace
of change and drive cost reduction, supporting investments in infrastructure and
technology platforms for Argos.

**Encouraging volume performance offset by lower average selling price**

·       Argos sales increased by 0.7 per cent in a highly competitive market

·       Strong summer performance offset by subdued consumer spending over peak 
Black Friday and Christmas period

·       Sales volumes up 3.7 per cent, driven by higher customer numbers and bigger
baskets

·       Largely offset by average selling price (ASP) down 3.0 per cent, reflecting
competitive pricing pressure and higher participation of lower ticket items

·       Profits broadly in line with last year. Benefit from higher volumes and 
operating cost savings offset by lower ASP, higher cost of driving online traffic
and higher wage inflation

·       Profits up year on year in first half, reflecting strong Summer seasonal
volume growth, but down in peak third quarter, impacted by lower ASP

**Expanding breadth and depth of ranges**

·       Added 13,000 new Supplier Direct Fulfilled products, with particular focus
on Beauty, Toys and Electricals, driving strong sales growth

·       Launch of marketplace in the year ahead will significantly expand choice
for customers

·       Rationalising Argos-owned private label brands from 27 to seven core brands,
revitalising our own brand offer

·       Re-launched Chad Valley and design-led collaborations in Habitat resulted
in positive market share performances in both toys and homewares^(24). 21 per cent
improvement in sales growth in Chad Valley post-launch

**Focus on efficiency, strengthening digital capabilities and added value services**

·       Significant cost savings delivered in stores, depots and warehouses

·       Investments in AI and automation improving vehicle routing, stock management
and customer targeting

·       Streamlining and modernising stores – right sizing standalone stores, improving
signage and technology in our stores inside Sainsbury’s and opening new collection
points

·       Improving Argos app to deliver personalised recommendations and app-only
offers, smoother account set up and purchasing journey

·       Supporting higher conversion and increased visits in a highly competitive
digital market, with a 24 per cent increase in app visits year-on-year

·       Launched Argos Pay, flexible credit solution, in partnership with NewDay

**Save and invest to win**

As we enter the third and final year of our Next Level plan, we remain on track 
to deliver our £1 billion cost saving target, having delivered around £680 million
of cost savings since February 2024 and a total of nearly £2 billion over the past
five years.

Our cost savings programme helped us sustain the strength of our competitive position
in a year in which we navigated high levels of operating cost inflation, including
significantly higher National Insurance costs and the introduction of the Extended
Producer Responsibility scheme. We continue to invest to improve colleague safety,
enhance loss prevention measures and accelerate the use of technology to drive efficiency,
resilience and sustainable long‑term value creation.

**Improving productivity through high-returning technology and automation**

·       SmartShop extended to another 100 stores and now available in the majority
of supermarkets. Driving operational efficiency and supporting bigger basket trolley
shops

·       Introduced enhanced features such as Product Finder on colleague and customer
handsets, supporting easier navigation, faster missions and improved in‑store flow

·       All food products now live on machine learning forecasting platform, now
a core component of availability and inventory management. Contributing to highest
food availability since start of Food First strategy and reduced waste

·       AI Centre of Excellence launched to drive responsible scalable and value-
led adoption of AI across the business

·       AI tools improving colleague productivity, customer service and supply chain
optimisation and enabling colleagues to focus more time on customer‑facing and value‑
adding work

·       Continuing to build digital capabilities in stores, accelerating testing
and adoption of new technologies for customers and colleagues

**Enhancing colleague and customer safety and strengthening loss prevention across
our stores**

·       Targeted, data‑led approach to strengthening safety, building operational
resilience and improving loss prevention

·       Completed trial of facial recognition technology with Facewatch in two stores
to improve colleague safety and support identification of repeat serious offenders

·       Early results show almost 50 per cent reduction in logged incidents and 
over 90 per cent of identified offenders not returning. Technology extended to five
additional London stores to assess performance when adopted by multiple stores in
the same area, with plans to introduce the technology in more stores nationwide

·       Continued investment in targeted shrink measures. Self-checkout video analytics
rolled out to more than 440 supermarkets, with 130 more planned by the end of June

·       Enhanced shelf-edge protection safeguarding for higher risk items is now
live in over 800 convenience stores, alongside selective use of front-of-store barriers

**Simplifying the business and delivering sustainable cost savings**

·       Remaining in-store cafes, hot food, pizza and patisserie counters and scratch
bakery operations closed, reallocating 170,000 sq ft of store space to improved 
food ranges and delivering nearly £50 million of cost savings

·       First year to fully benefit from change to using third party warehousing
and transport suppliers for logistics operations, delivering nearly £30 million 
of productivity savings

·       Continued logistics automation progress, including Argos operations at Daventry
warehouse

·       Automated mobile robots now also live at Northampton site, simplifying ambient
grocery picking process, driving efficiency and increasing capacity, with potential
for rollout across the wider network

**Financial Services**

We are creating a simpler, more focused Financial Services model, fully integrated
into our retail business. As a result, following completion of the exit from core
banking, Financial Services will no longer be reported as a separate operating segment.
The ongoing Financial Services contribution will be generated from Argos Care, commission
income from Insurance, Travel Money, ATMs and white label banking products, alongside
income from the NewDay Argos Pay partnership.

·       Continue to make good progress on plan to exit core banking services and
streamline Financial Services proposition:

o  June 2024: Announced sale of Sainsbury’s Bank personal loan, credit card and 
retail deposit portfolios to NatWest Group. Successful migration completed across
October and November 2025

o  September 2024: Announced sale of Bank ATM business to NoteMachine. Completed
May 2025

o  October 2024: Announced sales of Argos store card portfolio to NewDay and launch
of new partnership to create Argos-branded digital credit proposition. Went live
in February 2026. Migration of existing customers will complete in 2026/27

o  July 2025: Announced agreement with Allianz UK on car and home insurance. Completed
August 2025

o  July 2025: Agreed sale of Travel Money business to Fexco Group. Completed January
2026

o  April 2026: Announced new partnership with NatWest, providing loans, savings 
products and new NatWest Nectar credit card. Products expected to be available in
second half of 2026

o  Expect to complete final stage of bank exit and surrender banking license by 
July 2026

·       Net proceeds from the bank exit enabled return of £300 million to shareholders,
with further £100 million to be returned via incremental share buybacks in 2026/
27

·       Breakeven continuing operating profit outcome a £22 million improvement 
versus prior year, supported by cost reduction measures and effective treasury management

**Sales performance (excl. VAT)**

| **Like-for-like sales performance** | **2024/25** | **2025/26** |   | 
| **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **FY** |   | 
| Like-for-like sales (excl. fuel) | 2.9% | 4.3% | 2.9% | 4.0% | 4.6% | 4.3% | 3.4% | 3.1% | 3.9% |   | 
| Like-for-like sales (incl. fuel) | 2.6% | 2.2% | 0.3% | 2.6% | 2.2% | 2.8% | 2.9% | 1.5% | 2.5% |   | 
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |   | 
| **Total sales performance** | **2024/25** | **2025/26** |   | 
| **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **FY** |   | 
| Sainsbury’s | 4.3% | 5.2% | 3.8% | 4.2% | 4.9% | 5.5% | 4.9% | 4.3% | 4.9% |   | 
| _  Grocery_ | _4.9%_ | _5.5%_ | _4.2%_ | _4.1%_ | _5.0%_ | _5.7%_ | _5.4%_ | _4.5%_ | _5.2%_ |   | 
|   _GM (Sainsbury’s) & Clothing_ | _(4.5)%_ | _2.0%_ | _(0.4)%_ | _6.4%_ | _4.2%_ | _2.1%_ | _(1.1)%_ | _1.0%_ | _1.3%_ |   | 
| Argos | (7.7)% | (1.4)% | (1.4)% | 1.9% | 4.0% | 0.1% | (1.0)% | 0.2% | 0.7% |   | 
| **Total Retail (excl. fuel)** | **2.6%** | **4.3%** | **2.9%** | **3.9%** | **4.8%** | **4.8%** | **3.9%** | **3.8%** | **4.3%** |   | 
| Fuel^(25) | 0.4% | (10.6)% | (17.4)% | (6.8)% | (13.6)% | (7.8)% | (1.2)% | (10.1)% | (8.2)% |   | 
| **Total Retail (incl. fuel)** | **2.3%** | **2.2%** | **0.3%** | **2.5%** | **2.4%** | **3.2%** | **3.4%** | **2.1%** | **2.8%** |   | 
| ** ** |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
| **Total sales performance (£m)** | **2024/25** | **2025/26** |   | 
| **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **FY** |   | 
| Sainsbury’s | 7,431 | 5,497 | 8,040 | 3,690 | 7,797 | 5,799 | 8,431 | 3,848 | 25,875 |   | 
| _  Grocery_ | _6,995_ | _5,155_ | _7,426_ | _3,484_ | _7,342_ | _5,450_ | _7,824_ | _3,640_ | _24,256_ |   | 
|   _GM (Sainsbury’s) & Clothing_ | _436_ | _342_ | _614_ | _206_ | _455_ | _349_ | _607_ | _208_ | _1,619_ |   | 
| Argos | 1,077 | 860 | 1,611 | 548 | 1,120 | 861 | 1,595 | 549 | 4,125 |   | 
| **Total Retail (excl. fuel)** | **8,508** | **6,357** | **9,651** | **4,238** | **8,915**^(1) | **6,659^(1)** | **10,022^(1)** | **4,396** | **29,992** |   | 
| Fuel^(25) | 1,291 | 894 | 1,116 | 575 | 1,115 | 824 | 1,103 | 517 | 3,559 |   | 
| **Total Retail (incl. fuel)** | **9,799** | **7,251** | **10,767** | **4,813** | **10,030**^(1) | **7,483^(1)** | **11,125^(1)** | **4,913** | **33,551** |   | 
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |

**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. They appear in a number of places throughout this announcement and include
statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations and those of
our officers, directors and employees concerning, amongst other things, our results
of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and
the business we operate. 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 (BST). This will be available
to view on our website at the following link: https://sainsburys-preliminary-results-
announcement-2026.open-exchange.net/

A recorded copy of the webcast and Q&A call, alongside slides and a transcript of
the presentation will be available at https://corporate.sainsburys.co.uk/investors/
results-reports-and-presentations/ following the event.

Sainsbury’s will issue its 2026/27 First Quarter Trading Statement at 07:00 (BST)
on 30 June 2026. 

| ^(1) | Total Retail sales are reported after the elimination of intra-segmental revenues | 
| ^(2) | Discontinued operations were previously included in underlying measures whilst the associated trading activities remained ongoing. Following completion of the NatWest, NewDay and NoteMachine disposals, these activities are substantially ceased and have therefore been reclassified to non-underlying so as to only reflect ongoing trading performance within underlying results. In July 2025, we agreed the sale of the Travel Money business to Fexco Group, with the sale completing in January 2026. The Travel Money business is presented as a discontinued operation in both the current and comparative periods. | 
| ^(3) | The comparative period has been restated to reflect the deferred tax impact of an increased proportion of assets qualifying for tax allowances. Further details can be found on note 2. | 
| ^(4) | Net debt is defined as Retail net debt. Refer to note A3.1 within Alternative Performance Measures. | 
| ^(5) | Value Reality, February 2026 vs February 2025; Acuity, internal modelling | 
| ^(6) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Universe: City read Grocery, Volume market share, 2016/17 to 2025/26, 52 weeks to 1 March 2026 | 
| ^(7) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total FMCG excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Volume growth YoY, Total Market and Sainsbury’s, 2025/26 quarters | 
| ^(8) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Fresh & Grocery excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Main Shop Buyers, 52 weeks to 1 March 2026 | 
| ^(9) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Fresh & Grocery excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Primary shopper number growth (actual) 2020/21 to 2025/26, 52 weeks to 22 February 2026. Primary shopper is defined as any shopper who bought 40% or more of their groceries at particular retailer within the time period indicated | 
| ^(10) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Fresh & Grocery excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Retailer to/from Volume net switching gains/losses, 52 weeks to 22 February 2026 | 
| ^(11) | NielsenIQ EPOS, Total FMCG excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Fresh categories (Sainsburys defined category hierarchy) volume growth YoY, 52 weeks to 28 February 2026 | 
| ^(12) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Fresh & Grocery excl. Kiosk & Tobacco, Premium Own Label tier (excl. Premium Plus tier), Volume growth YoY, 52 weeks to 1 March 2026 | 
| ^(13) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Fresh & Grocery excl. Kiosk, Premium Own Label tier (excl. Premium Plus tier), Basket size – number of Taste the Difference items per basket, Frequency and Buyers YoY growth, 52 weeks to 1^(st) March 2026 | 
| ^(14) | Nectar / Groceries Online customers shopping both Aldi Price Match and Taste the Difference at least once during 2025/26 | 
| ^(15) | CSAT Supermarket Competitor Benchmarking data – Overall Supermarket Satisfaction 2025/26 vs full-choice grocers and 2025/26 vs 2024/25 year-on-year improvement in key metrics: value for money, product range, quality and availability. Note: March 2025 data unavailable | 
| ^(16) | Groceries Online includes sales through Sainsburys.co.uk and sales through OnDemand channels serviced by supermarket and convenience locations | 
| ^(17) | CSAT Convenience Competitor Benchmarking data -2025/26 vs 2024/25 year-on-year improvement in key metrics: value for money and product range. Note: March 2025 data unavailable | 
| ^(18) | Based on Cost Of Goods Sold (COGS)  from suppliers (Dairy, Meat, Fish, Poultry, Produce) with minimum five year long-term agreements in place or planned, divided by total COGS of these categories | 
| ^(19) | Worldpanel by Numerator Panel (Kantar), Total Clothing, Footwear and Accessories. YoY retailer spend growth vs the market – from 12 weeks to 23 June 2024 to 12 weeks to 1 March 2026 | 
| ^(20) | Brand Tracking – Style (H2 2025/26 vs H2 2024/25) | 
| ^(21) | Increase in digitally active Nectar users February 2026 vs February 2025 | 
| ^(22) | Argos CSAT Survey – value for money and product range – February 2025/26 vs February 2024/25 | 
| ^(23) | YouGov Brand Tracking – Consideration – YoY improvement, 2025/26 vs 2024/25 | 
| ^(24) | GFK (Home) & Circana (Toys) market share data, 12 months to the end of February 2026 | 
| ^(25) | Fuel sales represent sales of fuel from our Petrol Filling Stations (PFS) and sales from our Ultra Rapid Electric Vehicle charging business, Smart Charge |

[j-sainsbury-plc-preliminary-results-2526-statement](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/j-sainsbury-plc-preliminary-results-2526-statement.pdf)
[Download](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/j-sainsbury-plc-preliminary-results-2526-statement.pdf)

Share on:
