Sainsbury's asked for details about Argos overhaul plans

The City will look for details of how Sainsbury's plans to overhaul Argos when the supermarket posts its annual results next week, while trading at Morrisons, HSBC and an RBS shareholder meeting are also in the spotlight.
By The Newsroom
Published 2nd May 2016, 06:00 BST
Sainsburys hopes Argos will help it maintain and grow market shareSainsburys hopes Argos will help it maintain and grow market share
Sainsburys hopes Argos will help it maintain and grow market share

Sainsbury’s posts full-year results on Wednesday after a eventful year that has seen the group return to sales growth and win a lengthy battle to take over Argos owner Home Retail Group in a transformational deal.

The Big Four grocer won a four-month takeover tussle in early April to snap up Home Retail for £1.4 billion - a move the group said will create the UK’s largest non-food store - a £6bn giant, with around 2,000 stores, concessions and click-and-collect outlets.

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It is a daring move for boss Mike Coupe, who took over from predecessor Justin King in July 2014.

But it is hoped the might of Argos will help Sainsbury’s see off the mounting threat from online retailer Amazon and German rivals Aldi and Lidl.

Full-year figures will show the impact of another tough year for the supermarket sector, with analysts pencilling in a 16% fall in underlying profits to £574m.

But Mr Coupe has made recent inroads into shoring up trading, with the group posting its first quarterly like-for-like sales growth for more than two years in March.

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It said like-for-like retail sales excluding fuel lifted by 0.1% in the fourth quarter, compared with a fall of 0.4% in the third quarter.

The most recent industry data also shows Sainsbury’s to have notched up the highest sales growth of the Big Four.

Related topics:ArgosMorrisonsHSBCAldiAmazon