US EditionSainsbury's raises profit outlook after better half year
Sainsbury's raised its full-year retail operating profit forecast to over £1 billion after reporting a 4.5% like-for-like sales increase and a 0.2% profit rise in the first half.
- On Thursday, Sainsbury's raised its full-year profit outlook and said it now expects retail underlying operating profit of `more than �1 billion` for the year to March 2026 after a stronger first half.
- For the 28 weeks to September 13, Sainsbury's reported retail underlying operating profit �504 million, with like-for-like sales over the first half rising 4.5% and retail sales excluding VAT and fuel reaching �15.6 billion.
- The group is cutting costs by £1 billion over three years to offset rising charges and closed in-store cafes and food counters in the first half, axing more than 3,000 jobs, Simon Roberts, chief executive, said.
- The upgrade confirmed supermarkets outperformed the wider retail market, with Sainsbury's shares up 23% so far this year and Tesco raising its full-year profit forecast last month.
- In September 2025, talks to sell Argos to JD.com collapsed over a pricing dispute, while Argos's sales growth slowed to 0.1%, amid subdued market conditions and the `dining in` trend benefiting supermarkets.
15 Articles
15 Articles
Sainsbury's raises profit outlook after better half year
Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest supermarket group, has today followed industry leader Tesco in raising its full-year profit outlook after delivering a first half sales and profit performance ahead of its expectations.
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Sainsbury’s has proved a good bet for investors this year as the grocer goes from strength to strength, but will it last into 2026? The UK’s second-largest supermarket has seen a 50 per cent uplift in share price since April, with another five per cent jump following better-than-expected results on Thursday. It’s a marked departure from the atmosphere in the UK’s grocery market at the beginning of the year, when all the major players faced a sha…
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