Poor weather dented the supermarket chain Sainsbury’s sales as it reported a 3% rise in first-quarter underlying sales this morning
It said grocery sales rose 4.8% in the 16 weeks to June 22nd, however general merchandise and clothing sales fell 4.3% and sales at the group’s Argos business dropped 6.2%, reflecting both poor early summer weather which dented sales of seasonal categories and strength in sales in the same period last year.
Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose by 2.7 per cent, down from a 9.8 per cent increase by the same point a year ago.
Sainsbury’s said it still expected full-year retail underlying operating profit of between £1.01billion and £1.06billion, representing growth of 5 per cent to 10 per cent.
