Sainsbury Q1 Retail Sales Down, Backs Annual Earnings Outlook; Names Bl Á Thnaid Bergin As New CFO

Sainsbury (J) Plc (JSAIY.PK,SBRY.L), a British super market chain, on Tuesday said in a first quarter update that its trading is in line with expectations. It also posted a decline in retail sales for the quarter against previous year’s elevated Covid-19 driven levels.

In addition, the company has reiterated its earnings outlook for the fiscal 2022-23.

For the three-month to June 25, the firm posted a 4.5 percent decline in its total retail sales, compared with the same period of last year.

Sainsbury also registered a 4.0 percent decline in its like-for-like sales, year-over-year basis.

Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of Sainsbury, said: “We really understand how hard it is for millions of households right now and that’s why we are investing £500 million and doing everything we can to keep our prices low, especially on the products customers buy most often. We’re working hard to reduce costs right across the business so that we can keep investing in these areas that customers care most about.”

Looking ahead, for the fiscal 2022-23, the company still expects its underlying profit before tax to be in the range of 630 million pounds – 690 million pounds.

Separately, it also announced the appointment of its Commercial and Retail Finance Director Bl á thnaid Bergin as new Chief Financial Officer with effect from March 6, 2023. The new appointment follows the current CFO Kevin O’Byrne’s intention to retire from Sainsbury’s in March 2023.

Bl á thnaid joined Sainsbury’s in 2019 as Group Director of Finance before moving to Commercial and Retail Finance Director in 2021.

Prior to joining Sainsbury’s, Bl á thnaid was Chief Finance Operations Officer at Aviva.

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