LONDON (dpa-AFX) - J Sainsbury plc (JSAIY.PK, SBRY.L) reported Tuesday that its first-quarter sales were ahead of expectations. Total retail sales grew 1.6 percent excluding fuel, while two-year growth was 10.3 percent.
In its trading update, the company said the first-quarter like-for-like sales went up 1.6 percent, excluding fuel, and up 8.4 percent including fuel.
Grocery sales edged up 0.8 percent with two-year growth 11.3 percent. Groceries Online sales grew 29 percent, while two-year growth was 142 percent.
Clothing sales climbed 57.6 percent from last year, and the two-year growth was 15.5 percent. Meanwhile, General Merchandise sales went down 1.4 per cent, but grew 5.6 percent on a two-year basis.
The company said its sales of Grocery, General Merchandise and Clothing were all higher than expectations throughout the quarter. Grocery sales benefited from higher in-home consumption due to continued COVID-19 restrictions.
Looking ahead, the company now expects to report underlying profit before tax of at least 660 million pounds in the financial year to March 2022, with progress weighted towards the first half.
The company previously said underlying profit before tax in the year would exceed that reported in the year to March 2020 and was comfortable with consensus forecasts of around 620 million pounds.
In the year to March 2021, Underlying profit before tax was 356 million pounds, and was 586 million pounds in the year to March 2020.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX