Sainsburys boss heads off profit warning fears
Sainsburys boss Sir Peter Davis says there will be no repeat of last year's profit-warning after Christmas.
Sir Peter has brought forward the company's trading statement to ward off fears of a profit warning, which hit share prices yesterday.
He emphasises that the company's supermarkets had traded 'aggressively', denying that there has been any over-ordering or price cuts to get rid of excess stock.
"We made a deliberate decision to trade aggressively during Christmas week on fresh food and to have a higher degree of availability than normal," Sir Peter said.
"We often run out during Christmas Eve. We were determined to do that later during Christmas Eve this year."
Total sales were up 3.2% over the 12-weeks to Jan 6, with like-for-like revenues up 0.7%.
For the year to date, like-for-like sales were up 1.9% and total sales were 4.3% higher.
Davis says the company is on course to achieve its aim of stabilising pretax profit before goodwill, exceptional costs, non-operating items and e-commerce in the current year.
The chief executive was drafted in last March after a poor Christmas trading performance which culminated in last January's profit warning.
The UK stock market reacted with relief to the figures. "The figures were solid and there was a certain amount of relief that there was no repeat of last year's horrendous figures," a sales trader at a leading merchant bank said.
