Sainsbury’s clothing sales recover, profit increases

In the 52 weeks to March 5, 2022, the J Sainsbury Group generated pre-tax profit of 854 million pounds and an underlying pre-tax profit of 730 million pounds, up 373 million pounds and up 144 million pounds compared to 2019/20.

The company’s Tu Clothing is now a 1 billion pounds brand, with sales growth of 3.1 percent versus FY 2019/20, underpinned by good online sales, up 49 percent. The brand delivered sales growth of 12.7 percent over one year.

Commenting on the full year trading, Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury plc, said in a statement: "We have outperformed key competitors on both a one and two-year basis while also delivering strong underlying profit growth, improved returns and consistent retail free cash flow. This gives us a strong foundation to keep building momentum in the year ahead."

Review of Sainsbury’s full year performance

Group sales increased by 3.3 percent year-on-year, while retail sales decreased 2.6 percent. The company said, general merchandise sales declined, while clothing recovered strongly from a year of suppressed demand with growth driven by full price sales and increased in-store sales.

The company’s underlying basic earnings per share increased to 25.4 pence driven by the increase in underlying earnings, partially offset by a higher share count. Basic earnings per share were 29.8 pence.

Sainsbury's expects difficult year ahead

The company added that the year ahead will be impacted by significant external pressures and uncertainties, including higher operating cost inflation and cost of living pressures impacting customers' disposable incomes.

At this early stage of the financial year, the company expects underlying pre-tax profit will be between 630 million pounds and 690 million pounds in FY 2022/23.

This is below the 730 million pounds reported in FY 2021/22, a year which benefited by an estimated 100 million pounds from elevated Covid-19 driven grocery volumes, but significantly ahead of the 586 million pounds reported in FY 2019/20.

The company’s board has recommended a final dividend of 9.9 pence per share to be paid on July 15, 2022 to shareholders on the register of members at the close of business on June 10, 2022.