Rising customer numbers and strong growth in non-food ranges helped J Sainsbury to post first-half profits towards the top end of forecasts, though Britain's third-biggest grocer signalled a tougher second half.
The 140-year-old group, which runs over 500 supermarkets and about 300 convenience stores, said today profit before tax and one-off items rose 19 per cent to £307 million in the 28 weeks to October 3rd.
Forecasts ranged from £296 million to £308 million, with an average of £301 million, in a Reuters poll of 10 analysts.
Sales climbed 3.7 per cent to £11.2 billion, with non-food ranges like clothing growing around 2.5 times the rate of groceries, and the firm said weekly transactions were up 800,000 year-on-year to over £18.5 million.
"As we enter the second half we expect the economic environment to remain challenging and market growth to slow due to reduced food price inflation," it said in a statement.
Reuters