# Sainsburys deliver strong volume and record market share gains

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/sainsburys-deliver-strong-volume-and-record-market-share-gains/4121131833
- Published: 2023-11-02T07:27:19+00:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**[J Sainsbury Plc](https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/ftse-company/j-sainsbury/sbry.l)**(
LON:SBRY) has announced its interim results for the 28 weeks ended 16 September 
2023.

We’re gaining volume from all of our grocery competitors, have grown ahead of the
market throughout the first half and made record market share gains. This is the
result of the strategic investment we have made in our food business over the last
three years, improving value, innovation and customer service. Customers are noticing
and they’re doing more of their grocery shopping with us, trusting us to deliver
consistent value as well as the great quality and service they’ve always expected
from Sainsbury’s.

We’re continuing to make balanced choices, so while we’re investing to help customers
and colleagues, we also expect the strength of our volume performance to result 
in underlying profit before tax in FY2023/24 of between £670 million and £700 million,
the upper half of our previous guidance range, and retail free cash flow of at least
£600 million, higher than our previous guidance of at least £500 million.

As we look to build on the success of Food First and towards our next phase of progress,
we will host a Strategy Update on 7 February 2024.

**Financial Highlights**

·      Grocery sales up 10.1%. Volume growth across both quarters driving record
market share gains and consistent market outperformance

·      General Merchandise sales up 1.1% despite tough weather comparatives over
the summer (up 2.5% excluding the impact of the closure of Argos in the Republic
of Ireland)

·      Clothing sales down 8.4%, reflecting a disciplined trading approach in a 
seasonally weak and promotionally-driven market

·      Statutory Group sales up 3.5%, with fuel sales down 19.6% driven by lower
input prices. Like-for-like Retail sales (excluding fuel) up 8.4%

·      Retail operating profit £485 million, up 2%, reflecting strong volume-driven
grocery profit growth and continued delivery of Save to Invest cost saving benefits,
partially offset by the impact of weaker seasonal sales on General Merchandise profits

·      Financial Services operating profit of £13 million versus £19 million last
year. This primarily reflects net interest margin reduction, with higher funding
costs not being fully passed on through higher lending costs

·      Underlying profit before tax of £340 million, flat year-on-year

·      Underlying earnings per share 10.5 pence, down 6% due to the higher rate 
of corporation tax

·      Statutory profit before tax of £275 million, down 27%, predominantly reflecting
non-cash movements and one-off income from legal settlements in the prior year. 
Statutory earnings per share 6.6 pence, down 46%

·      Retail free cashflow of £520 million, driven by strong grocery sales growth
and seasonal H1 benefit from timing of payments

·      Net debt including leases £701 million lower at £5,643 million, reflecting
strong cash generation and a £1,042 million reduction in lease debt as a result 
of the Highbury & Dragon property transaction. Net debt excluding leases increased
by £375 million to £231 million, reflecting the £670 million cash costs of funding
the consideration for the transaction

·      Interim dividend of 3.9 pence, unchanged year-on-year in line with our policy
of paying 30% of the prior full year dividend per share

> **Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said:** “Food is firmly back
> at the heart of Sainsbury’s. We’ve never been more competitive on price and our
> focus on value, innovation and service is giving more customers more reasons to
> shop with us.
> “We know people are still finding things tough and we’re working harder than ever
> to reduce our costs, putting the money back into our customers’ pockets through
> lower prices on the products they buy most often. I’m pleased to say food inflation
> is coming down and we are passing savings on to customers. We’ve rolled out Nectar
> Prices to over 6,000 products and the vast majority of customers are now shopping
> with Nectar, saving over £450 million since April.
> “We have extended increased colleague discount and free food during shifts indefinitely
> and, thanks to the hard work across our entire team, we’re delivering leading 
> customer service and availability. I want to thank all of my colleagues for their
> fantastic efforts.
> “We’re ready to give customers at Sainsbury’s and Argos everything they want to
> have a brilliant Christmas. We’re helping everyone to treat themselves with fantastic
> value and more delicious new food than ever before. As we head into this key trading
> period, we are encouraged by our strong momentum and we remain fully focused on
> delivering for customers and shareholders.”

**Strategic highlights**

·    Food First: Customers want consistently good value, exciting products and great
service and our relentless focus has helped us deliver record market share gains
^(1)

o  We’re the most competitive we have ever been^(2) and customers’ perception of
our value is consistently improving^(3), which is why we’re the only full-choice
supermarket gaining spend from limited choice competitors^(4,5)

o  We have invested £118 million since March in keeping prices low and our targeted
investment choices are delivering. Our focus on lowering prices on centre of the
plate products – those our customers buy most often – has led to more customers 
doing their big shop with us^(6) and we have driven volumes ahead of the market 
across the full basket^(7)

o  We launched and rapidly rolled out Nectar Prices across all supermarkets and 
to Groceries Online. It is now available on over 6,000 products and has saved customers
over £450 million since the launch. Customer response has exceeded our expectations,
with more than three million new Digital Collectors since April. The vast majority
of Sainsbury’s customers regularly use Nectar Prices, saving almost £10 on a typical
£80 weekly shop

o  Supporting our Good food for all of us brand promise, we continue to be bold 
and ambitious on innovation, launching 600 new products in the half and growing 
Taste the Difference volumes by 8.4 per cent in Q2, outperforming the market and
all competitors in Premium Own Label volume growth^(8), driven in part by our Summer
innovation

o  We have invested significantly in colleague pay and extended our increased colleague
discount and free food during shifts indefinitely and our colleague engagement scores
have increased 8 percentage points^(9). We believe having highly engaged colleagues
delivers leading customer service and our overall customer satisfaction is consistently
ahead of full-choice competitors^(10)

·        Brands that Deliver: We remain focused on improving the efficiency and 
resilience of our brands, supporting our strong customer offers and investment in
our food business

o  Nectar sales participation has increased significantly and we now have 14 million
Nectar Digital Collectors, driven by the rapid rollout of Nectar Prices. This will
support the growth of Nectar360, which is on track to deliver £90 million of additional
profit by March 2026, as will the expansion of our connected digital screen network
to over 800 screens – making our ‘Sainsbury’s Live’ network one of the largest digital
retailer screen networks in the UK

o  Argos profitability has improved in recent years as we have lowered the fixed
cost base, while improving our product range and expanding the number of points 
where customers can conveniently collect products. Lower fixed costs helped reduce
the impact in the half of significantly lower seasonal sales during a colder and
wetter Summer

o  Argos sales were resilient, with sales up 3.3 per cent excluding the impact of
closing Argos in the Republic of Ireland, driven by continuing market share gains
^(11), strong consumer electronics sales and activity supporting Argos’s 50^(th)
birthday

o  Tu maintained a disciplined trading approach, with lower sales but stable full-
price sales participation protecting profitability in a seasonally weak and promotionally
driven market. We now have 37 third party brands on Tu.co.uk, with nine new branded
fashion destination hubs in Sainsbury’s supermarkets driving higher average customer
spend

o  Financial Services profits declined, with net interest margin compression as 
higher funding costs were not passed through to lending costs. This reflects the
nature of our lending products, including buy now pay later at Argos and customers
continuing to clear balances rather than incur interest costs. We now expect full
year Financial Services profits to be lower than last year

·     Save to Invest: We are on track to deliver £1.3 billion of cost savings by
March 2024, future proofing our business with a structurally lower cost base and
fuelling investment in our customer proposition. As we move towards the next phase
of our strategy we have a strong plan and are confident of continued momentum and
competitive advantage through unique cost savings opportunities

o  Delivered £1.1 billion of cost savings over the last two and a half years

o  We progressed key structural change projects, are continuing to transform and
simplify our logistics operations and have begun to consolidate our data centres,
which will modernise, simplify and future-proof our technology estate

·    Plan for Better: We are making good progress on our Plan for Better, investing
in sustainable supply chains and continue to make progress against targets including
plastic packaging and carbon reduction

o  Our new Taste the Difference Aberdeen Angus beef range is revolutionising how
we produce beef in the UK, with a 25 per cent lower carbon footprint compared to
industry standard

o  We won the Marine Stewardship Council UK Supermarket of the Year and Aquaculture
Stewardship Council UK Retailer of the Year titles, recognising our commitment to
sourcing from certified sustainable, responsibly managed fisheries and aquaculture

| **H1 Financial Summary** | **2023/24** | **2022/23** | **YoY** | 
| **Statutory performance** |  |  |  | 
| Group revenue (excl. VAT, inc. fuel) | **£16,983m** | £16,408m | 3.5% | 
| Profit before tax | **£275m** | £376m | (27)% | 
| Profit after tax | **£155m** | £285m | (46)% | 
| Basic earnings per share | **6.6p** | 12.3p | (46)% | 
| **Business performance** | ** ** |  |  | 
| Group sales (inc. VAT) | **£18,865m** | £18,338m | 2.9% | 
| Retail sales (inc. VAT, excl. fuel) | **£15,805m** | £14,674m | 7.7% | 
| Underlying profit before tax | **£340m** | £340m | – | 
| Underlying basic earnings per share | **10.5p** | 11.2p | (6)% | 
| Interim dividend per share | **3.9p** | 3.9p | – | 
| Net debt (inc. lease liabilities) | **£(5,643)m** | £(6,165)m | £522m | 
| Non-lease net (debt)/funds | **£(231)m** | £361m | £(592)m | 
| Return on capital employed | **7.9%** | 7.7% | 20bps |

| **Like-for-like sales performance** | **2022/23** | **2023/24 YoY** | **2023/24 exc. Argos ROI** | 
|  | **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **H1** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **H1** | 
| Like-for-like sales (excl. fuel) | (4.0)% | 3.7% | 5.9% | 7.8% | 9.8% | 6.6% | 8.4% | 10.0% | 6.6% | 8.5% | 
| Like-for-like sales (incl. fuel) | 2.9% | 7.7% | 6.8% | 5.9% | 3.9% | 2.2% | 3.2% | 4.0% | 2.2% | 3.2% | 
|  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  |  | 
| **Total sales performance** | **2022/23** | **2023/24 YoY** | **2023/24 exc. Argos ROI** | 
| ** ** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **Q3** | **Q4** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **H1** | **Q1** | **Q2** | **H1** | 
|  Grocery | (2.4)% | 3.8% | 5.6% | 7.4% | 11.0% | 8.9% | 10.1% | 11.0% | 8.9% | 10.1% | 
|  Total General Merchandise | (11.2)% | 1.2% | 4.6% | 7.6% | 4.0% | (2.6)% | 1.1% | 4.9% | (0.6)% | 2.5% | 
| _GM (Argos)_ | _(10.5)%_ | _1.6%_ | _4.5%_ | _9.3%_ | _5.1%_ | _(2.6)%_ | _1.7%_ | _6.1%_ | _(0.1)%_ | _3.3%_ | 
| _GM (Sainsbury’s)_ | _(14.6)%_ | _(1.3)%_ | _5.4%_ | _(1.0)%_ | _(1.2)%_ | _(2.7)%_ | _(1.9)%_ | _(1.2)%_ | _(2.7)%_ | _(1.9)%_ | 
| Clothing | (10.1)% | (0.2)% | 1.3% | (1.9)% | (3.7)% | (14.6)% | (8.4)% | (3.7)% | (14.6)% | (8.4)% | 
| **Total Retail (excl. fuel)** | **(4.5)%** | **3.1%** | **5.2%** | **7.1%** | **9.2%** | **5.8%** | **7.7%** | **9.3%** | **6.2%** | **8.0%** | 
| Fuel | 48.3% | 29.1% | 12.2% | (2.8)% | (21.4)% | (17.1)% | (19.6)% | (21.4)% | (17.1)% | (19.6)% | 
| **Total Retail (incl. fuel)** | **2.5%** | **7.2%** | **6.2%** | **5.4%** | **3.3%** | **1.5%** | **2.6%** | **3.5%** | **1.9%** | **2.8%** |

**Outlook**

Consistent investment in our customer proposition has driven strong momentum and
profit growth in our grocery business and continued market share gains for Argos.
This strong trading momentum has continued in recent weeks and we are confident 
heading into the peak trading period. Hence, despite headwinds in Financial Services
and some tough comparatives ahead, we now expect to report underlying profit before
tax in FY 2023/24 of between £670 million and £700 million, the upper half of our
previous guidance range (£640 million to £700 million). We expect to generate Retail
free cash flow of at least £600 million, higher than our previous guidance of at
least £500 million.

A webcast presentation and live Q&A will be held at 9:00 (GMT). This will be available
to view on our website at the following link: https://sainsburys-interim-results-
nov-2023.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 issue its 2023/24 Third Quarter Trading Statement at 07:00 (GMT)
on 10 January 2024. 

**Food First**

Food is firmly back at the heart of Sainsbury’s. Our relentless focus on value, 
innovation and service has helped us drive volumes, improve absolute value^(2), 
increase value perception^(3) and win new customers^(12). More customers are shopping
their full basket with us^(7) and we are gaining volumes from every supermarket 
including limited-choice competitors^(4).

**Value**

·      We have never been more competitive on price^(2) and customers are noticing:
value perception is improving consistently^(3, )  we are outperforming the market
on volume growth every week of the half^(13) and we are the only full-choice supermarket
winning volumes from limited choice competitors^(4), with more customers doing more
of their shopping with us^(12), particularly their big shops^(6)

·      We invested a further £118 million in lowering prices and led the industry
on passing lower cost prices through to customers, so hundreds of the products they
buy most often, like cheese, pasta and fish fingers, now cost less. We are consistently
inflating behind key competitors^(14) and our biggest ever Aldi Price Match campaign
now includes over 400 products

·      We know that when customers are getting great value on the items they buy
most often, they’ll do more of their shop with us. Our focus on investing in the
centre of the plate – fresh food like meat, fish and fruit and veg – is winning,
we are outperforming the market across the full basket^(7) and growing our market
share^(1)

·      We launched and rolled out Nectar Prices across all supermarkets and to Groceries
Online. Nectar Prices are now available on over 6,000 products across all areas 
of food and grocery, saving customers almost £10 on a typical £80 weekly shop. Customers
know they can find market-leading offers through Nectar Prices and suppliers are
providing great support for the deals. The vast majority of our customers are now
regularly using Nectar and customers have saved over £450 million since launch in
April, helping drive improved value perceptions^(3) and leading to strong customer
satisfaction scores for offers^(15)

·      Groceries Online customers are already highly engaged with Nectar Prices 
and we anticipate this growing following this week’s launch of Your Nectar Prices
online, offering personalised discounts based on the items our customers buy the
most often. SmartShop customers have already saved £80 million through using Your
Nectar Prices^(16) in store

·      Our new value range Stamford Street is bigger than ever at over 200 products,
growing sales by almost 60 per cent year-on-year and driving Economy Own Label volume
growth ahead of the market^(17)

**Innovation**

·      Supporting our Good food for all of us brand promise, we launched almost 
600 new products in H1, with more than 70 per cent of those in Fresh. Customer favourites
included our Taste the Difference Chorizo, Nduja and Mozzarella sandwich, _by_ Sainsbury’s
Sweet and Sticky BBQ British Pork Skewers and Taste the Difference Lemon Cheesecake
Inspired Cookies

·      Driven by strong performance over the Summer and the successful refresh of
our Taste the Difference £12 Dine In deal, Taste the Difference volumes grew by 
8.4 per cent in Q2, outperforming the market and all competitors in Premium Own 
Label volume growth^(8)

·      With our Food to Go range now more popular than pre-pandemic, we increased
the options available to customers with the launch of Kitchen Deli, a specialty 
selection of fresh ready-prepared sandwiches, salads, cold and heat-up ready meals,
giving customers a new and convenient way to sample the best of what Sainsbury’s
has to offer

·      We continue to be bold and ambitious on innovation, with over 360 products
launching through Autumn and Winter. We are launching 170 new Taste the Difference
products this Christmas and are well set up for success

**Best of British**

·      We’re committed to working with our suppliers to build sustainable, resilient
supply chains which are fit for the future. Our suppliers and partners are key to
delivering our promise of Good food for all of us

·      We announced an additional investment of £6 million annually into supporting
our dairy farmers, on top of the independently calculated Cost of Production price
of milk

·      We are investing in supply chain innovation, launching a new Taste the Difference
Aberdeen Angus beef range which is revolutionising how we produce beef in the UK.
The reinvigorated range will offer a 25 per cent lower carbon footprint compared
to industry standard, making it the largest low carbon beef range ever produced 
in the UK and is one of the ways we’re progressing towards our ambition to become
Net Zero across our own operations by 2035 and our value chain by 2050

·      We made changes to our chicken welfare standards in March: they now have 
20 per cent more space than industry standard, helping us raise happier, healthier
_by_ Sainsbury’s chickens. With great value for customers, often matched to the 
lowest market prices, this has helped to contribute towards a 3.6 per cent market
share increase^(18) for this category

Service

·      We have invested significantly in colleague pay and extended indefinitely
our increased colleague discount and free food during shifts. Our colleague engagement
scores have increased 8 percentage points^(9) and we have had better retention and
lower absence

·      We believe having engaged colleagues delivers leading customer service and
our overall customer satisfaction scores are consistently ahead of full-choice competitors
^(10). Our strong colleague availability and speed of checkout scores^(14) reflect
changes we’ve made that free up colleagues to better serve customers, including 
colleague headset rollout and better efficiencies in stock and ordering processes

·      Our focus on service and efficiency in Groceries Online has led to customer
satisfaction improving and moving ahead of all competitors during Q2, with strong
improvements in availability, variety, ease of checkout and delivery slot availability
^(19)

·      Our Convenience performance was strong, with 11 million more Convenience 
transactions year-on-year. We have diversified the offer to meet customer needs,
growing Taste the Difference share of sales 8 percentage points since May, while
our Pocket Friendly Prices highlight our value offer to customers. Our Convenience
customer satisfaction scores have improved 6 percentage points year-on-year^(20)

·      On Demand sales through our partnerships with Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just
Eat and our Chop Chop service continue to grow, increasing 50 per cent. With almost
900 stores live with at least one app, we continue to have market leading coverage
in all cities and further opportunities for growth

**Brands that Deliver**

We remain focused on improving the efficiency and resilience of our brands, supporting
strong customer offers and our core food business. Argos has proved resilient, delivering
strong market share gains^(11) and benefiting from its leaner cost structure, while
Tu prioritised full price clothing sales in a more promotional market.

Nectar

·      We have rapidly rolled out Nectar Prices across the store and it’s now available
across all grocery categories – delivering additional value to customers. The customer
response has exceeded our expectations, strengthening value perception^(3) and driving
Nectar participation levels, with more than three million new Nectar Digital Collectors
since April

·      Revenues for Nectar360, our digital media and shopper marketing agency, are
continuing to grow supported by Nectar’s growing Digital Collector base and the 
business is on track to deliver at least £90 million of additional profit by March
2026. This profit will also be supported by the expansion of our connected digital
screen network to over 800 screens, making our ‘Sainsbury’s Live’ network one of
the largest digital retailer screen networks in the UK

·      Our off-site Digital Trading Platform revenue is growing, driven by market-
leading innovation and strong returns on advertising spend

**Argos and Habitat**

·      Argos continues to gain market share^(11), reflecting the increasing strength
and depth of the product offer, a continually-improving digital experience and the
speed and convenience of our market-leading Click & Collect and Home Delivery propositions.
93% of households have access to our same day delivery service

·      Sales increased 1.7%, with seasonal declines offset by strong Consumer Electronics&
Technology sales and a positive customer and colleague response to the Argos 50^(
th) birthday celebrations. Excluding the impact of the planned closure of Argos 
in the Republic of Ireland, Argos sales were up 3.3 per cent 

·      Argos product availability has improved by almost 5 percentage points versus
this time last year and we have made improvements to the online checkout experience
across all three General Merchandise brands, adding guest check out and a new “email
when back in stock” function, resulting in higher sales conversion 

·      To better serve the increasing number of online customers, Habitat launched
a digital showroom, an online service showcasing the product offering and offering
advice via video call

Tu

·      Tu sales declined, reflecting weak seasonal demand as a result of poor summer
weather and a warm early September. We maintained a disciplined trading approach
in a highly promotional market, with stable full price sales participation and good
stock control, mitigating the impact of the sales decline

·      We remain focused on offering customers choice and are growing our third 
party brands proposition at pace. We now have 37 third party brands – including 
Simply Be, Sosandar, Finery and French Connection – on Tu.co.uk and launched new
branded fashion destination hubs in nine Sainsbury’s supermarkets in September. 
Through the new venture, we will create at least 50 fashion destination hubs in 
stores  

**Financial Services**

·      We continue to simplify our Financial Services business, completing the sale
of the mortgage book during the half and further focusing on providing Financial
Services for Sainsbury’s and Argos customers

·      Financial Services underlying operating profit reduced to £13 million in 
the half, down £6 million versus last year. This primarily reflected net interest
margin compression. Higher funding costs on bank deposits, the result of the significant
and rapid increase in Bank of England base rates, were not fully passed on to customers

·      This was driven largely by the nature of our lending book. This includes 
buy now pay later at Argos, an important element of the Argos customer proposition,
and a high proportion of both credit card and Argos card customers continuing to
clear balances rather than incurring interest costs

·      Impairments remain stable, with the bad debt ratio down 10 basis points year-
on-year

**Save to Invest**

We have focused on simplifying our business, making tougher prioritisation decisions
and investing capital to drive efficiencies, future proofing our business with a
structurally lower cost base and providing fuel to invest in our customer proposition

·      Our Save to Invest cost saving programme has delivered £1.1 billion of cost
savings since March 2021 and is on track to deliver £1.3 billion of cost savings
in the three years to March 2024, which is double the run rate of savings in the
previous three years

·      We are transforming and simplifying our logistics operations by moving to
three dedicated partnerships across transport, food, General Merchandise and clothing,
instead of multiple different contracts across the network. We have already transferred
12 of our depot contracts, delivered with no impact to depot performance metrics.
The remaining moves are on track for completion next year

·      We have further transformed the Argos store and distribution network, increasing
the speed at which we can fulfil customer orders, improving product availability
and contributing to customer satisfaction. More than 90 per cent of UK households
are conveniently located within a 15-minute drive of Argos. Additionally, we made
structural savings through the closure of Argos in the Republic of Ireland, including
all 34 stores and the website, further rationalising our property estate and reducing
complexity

·      We are moving at pace to deliver leading automation and machine learning 
in our supply chain. Our new systems are driving end-to-end efficiencies, reducing
manual tasks and leading to better outcomes across supply chain, commercial and 
retail teams

**Plan for Better**

We are committed to playing a leading role in offering affordable high-quality food
that supports healthy and sustainable diets and helps customers reduce their impact
on the planet. We know how important it is for our customers, colleagues, communities
and shareholders that we deliver on our Plan for Better goals. We continue to make
progress against targets, including plastic packaging and carbon reduction and are
encouraging our customers to eat healthier and more sustainable diets through offering
great value on healthy choices and sharing recipes to inspire a greater variety 
of meal choices.

**_ _Better for the Planet**

·      Plastic reduction initiatives launched in the first half of the year will
save nearly 1,000 tonnes of plastic per year. We announced the biggest plastics 
reduction in our grocery business to date when we became the first UK retailer to
switch from plastic to paper packaging across our entire own-brand toilet paper 
and kitchen towel ranges, saving 485 tonnes. We also led the market in changing 
our range of babywear to cardboard hangers, with the new packaging set to save 103
tonnes. Our efforts to reduce plastic in meat ranges have delivered big results,
such as removing the plastic trays from steaks and whole chickens, each delivering
around a 70 per cent plastic saving – or an estimated 395 tonnes

·      In Q2, we announced that we will be swapping use-by dates for best-before
dates across our own-brand milk range in 2024, making us the biggest UK retailer
to make this change and empowering customers to make their own decisions on whether
their food is good to eat, helping to prevent them from disposing of food too early

·      We also donated almost 17 million meals through our partnership with Neighbourly–
helping manage our back of store food donation programme and connecting our stores
with local partners who will redistribute food to those in need

·      We announced a 15-year investment into the Longhill Burn Wind Farm in Scotland.
This will add up to 50 megawatts of electrical capacity to the grid in the form 
of renewable energy. The turbines are the largest and most powerful available onshore
in the UK

**Better for Everyone**

·      In recognition of our commitment to sourcing from fisheries and aquaculture
that are certified as sustainable and responsibly managed, we won the Marine Stewardship
Council UK Supermarket of the Year and Aquaculture Stewardship Council UK Retailer
of the Year titles – the first time a major retailer has won both awards

·      To help tackle food poverty, we donated over £3 million to Comic Relief through
our Nourish the Nation campaign. Running from May to July 2023, the campaign donated
50p for every Inspired to Cook range product sold. The campaign has funded initiatives
designed to tackle food insecurity and ensure communities have access to balanced,
nutritional and sustainable food sources

·      We are passionate about playing an active role in our communities and aim
to help positively impact those in need through fundraising, volunteering, donations
and by raising awareness. We donated £500,000 to Oxfam and the British Red Cross,
supporting those affected by the recent devastating events in Morocco and Libya

·      Tu donated £100,000 from the proceeds of school uniform sales to Comic Relief
to help support free school meals and kids’ food clubs across the UK

**Better for You**

·      We know how important it is for our customers to eat a varied and healthy
diet, which is why it’s our ambition to deliver good food for all of us by helping
customers eat well at affordable prices

·      Our Aldi Price Match campaign helps customers balance their diets and their
budgets, including oily fish, wholewheat brown rice and pasta and healthy dairy 
alternatives, inspiring customers with healthy and sustainable recipe suggestions
for all mealtimes

·      The Great Fruit and Veg challenge returned to Sainsbury’s for the fourth 
year running from August to October. Over 710,000 customers took part, the highest
we have seen for a Nectar event, awarding customers nearly £1.7 million of Nectar
points

^(1) Nielsen Panel volume market share H1 17/18 – H1 23/24. Total FMCG (Excluding
Kiosk & Tobacco), Market Universe: Total Outlets

^(2) Value Reality. Acuity, internal modelling – H1 23/24 vs each half year period
since tracking began in 2016

^(3) CSAT Competitor Benchmark, Sainsbury’s Value Perception Score H1 23/24, 28 
weeks to 16 September 2023

^(4) Nielsen Panel data, Sainsbury’s to / from net volume switching – Total FMCG
excl. Kiosk and Tobacco. Trended 12 week rolling for Q2 23/24

^(5) “Full-choice” supermarkets refers to Tesco, Morrisons and Asda and “Limited
choice” refers to Aldi and Lidl

^(6) Nielsen panel data, Total FMCG excl. Kiosk and Tobacco. Shopper missions growth
by volume. 28 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(7) Nielsen panel data, Total FMCG excl. Kiosk and Tobacco. Volume growth differential
to the market by category, 28 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(8) Nielsen Panel Premium Own Label Volume Growth YoY – Total FMCG excl. Kiosk 
and Tobacco. 28 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(9) eSAT scores July 2023 vs. April 2021 (baseline)

^(10) Competitor benchmarking survey. Overall Supermarket customer satisfaction %
score April 2022 – September 2023

^(11) GfK tracked market share 6 months to September 2023

^(12) Nielsen panel data, Total FMCG excl. Kiosk and Tobacco. Primary and Secondary
Shoppers numbers growth YoY. 28 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(13) Nielsen EPOS data – Sainsbury’s weekly volume growth differential to market.
Weekly data from 5 March to 16 September 2023

^(14) Nielsen panel data, Total FMCG excl. Kiosk and Tobacco. Top 100 SKUs by retailer.
Average Selling Price YoY growth. 52 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(15) Competitor benchmarking survey. Q2 23/24 supermarket CSAT scores 12 weeks 
to 16 September 2023

^(16) Since launch in September 2021

^(17) Nielsen Panel Economy Own Label Volume Growth YoY – Total FMCG excl. Kiosk
and Tobacco. 12 weeks to 16 September 2023

^(18) Nielsen Panel data, volume market share % growth YoY, H1 23/24 vs H1 22/23,
Chicken category

^(19) Competitor benchmarking survey. Q2 23/24 Online CSAT scores 12 weeks to 16
September 2023

^(20) Lettuce know Convenience Satisfaction % score, Q2 23/24, 12 weeks to 16 September
2023, versus Q2 22/23, 12 weeks to 17 September 2022

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