Sainsbury's reports strong Q3 with increasing clothing sales

Sainsbury's has reported strong third-quarter revenues over the Christmas period, with clothing sales also slightly up. In the 15 weeks to 2 January, like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 8.6 percent, with total retail sales excluding fuel up 6.8 percent. Clothing sales were up 0.4 percent. For the shorter Christmas period, which covered the 9 weeks from 1 November 2020 to 1 January 2021, like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 9.3 percent. The company also said Tu Clothing managed to grow market share "in both value and volume, with strong online growth". Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said general merchandise and clothing gross margins benefited from better than anticipated full-price sales, “driven by customers shopping earlier for Christmas and successful changes to our Black Friday trading strategy”. The company now expects underlying profit before tax of at least 330 million pounds in the financial year to March 2021 - that’s after forgoing business rates relief of 410 million pounds. Photo credit: Tu Clothing, Facebook
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