Sainsbury’s update delivers share boost

The price of shares in FTSE 100 supermarket group Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) climbed 3.77% to 241.26p (as of 12:30 GMT) after it reported a 9.3% improvement in like-for-like sales over the Christmas period. Digital sales continue to grow strongly and now make up 44% of the total with quarterly online grocery sales up by 128%.

CEO Simon Roberts commented: “As we enter our third phase of tighter restrictions and national lockdowns, my number one priority remains keeping our colleagues and customers safe. The last few months have been really tough for many people and we are all dealing with a lot of change and uncertainty again. Given these challenging circumstances, we really focused on doing the best possible job for our customers this Christmas. I would like to say a huge thank you to every one of my colleagues, including the 68,000 colleagues we have recruited into Sainsbury’s and Argos since March, for the outstanding service you gave our customers.

“[…]We remain focused on delivering the plan we outlined in November and look forward to providing a further update on early progress at our Preliminary Results in April”.