J Sainsbury total retail sales for fourth quarter increased 1.2 percent (excluding fuel), up 0.5 percent (including fuel).
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Like-for-like Retail sales for fourth quarter increased 0.1 percent (excluding fuel), down 0.4 percent (including fuel).
Supermarkets delivered like-for-like transaction and volume growth.
CEO Mike Coupe: "We have delivered a strong performance this quarter. Our supermarkets recorded both like-for-like transaction and volume growth and we continue to exceed our internal metrics for service and availability.
"We also maintained our market share in the quarter. The market will remain competitive as food deflation continues to impact sales growth.
"We are progressing well with our quality investment in 3,000 own-brand products. The New Year is traditionally a time when customers focus on healthy eating and to cater for this demand we launched a number of vegetable-based product innovations including boodles (butternut squash noodles) and courgetti (spiralized courgette) which are proving extremely popular with our customers.
"We also introduced new lines to our healthier bread range including the rye loaf and sprouting grain boule, both of which are high in fibre.
"Our promotional participation levels continue to reduce year-on-year, running at an average of 28 percent for the quarter. Customers have told us that multi-buy promotions do not meet their shopping needs today.
"They are often viewed as confusing, create storage challenges and unnecessary waste. In response to this, we recently announced that we will be phasing out the vast majority of our multi-buy promotions across grocery products by August this year.
"We will continue to simplify our trading strategy in favour of lower regular prices. We are also committed to reducing waste and in January we launched our Waste less, Save more initiative in Swadlincote, Derbyshire. The town will receive £1 million to trial the latest technology and innovations in reducing household waste." ■