Sainsbury’s has posted a half-year pre-tax profit of £433m, a rise of 9.1 per cent compared to the same time last year.
The supermarket chain said the results were “strong” considering the “tough trading environment”.
The report continues to say that like-for-like sales, which strip out new store space, rose 1.4 per cent excluding fuel in the 28 weeks to September 28.
The grocery chain has now overtaken Asda to become the second largest supermarket in Britain.
Overall half year sales rose 4.4 per cent to £13.9bn. Online sales were up 15 per cent while sales at its convenience stores rose more than 20 per cent.
Chief executive Justin King said the group’s share of the grocery market was at its highest level for a decade, after 35 consecutive quarters of underlying sales growth.
However Mr King added that the group still had a long way to go to catch Tesco in terms of sales.
“Average price rises are still ahead of average wage rises. People at the end of the week, at the end of the month, have less money left. That’s the reality we are trading in.”
In October, Tesco reported a 23.5 per cent drop in group pre-tax profits for the first half of its financial year to £1.39 billion, which it said was down to a challenging retail environment, particularly in Europe.
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