J Sainsbury Underlying group sales were £13,641 million

J Sainsbury underlying group sales down 2 percent

Staff writer ▼ Wednesday November 11, 2015 11:03AM ET

J Sainsbury plc posted interim results for the 28 weeks to September 26, 2015. Underlying group sales including VAT were down 2 percent to £13,641 million (2014/15: £13,916 million).

Retail sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) down 0.1 percent. Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) down 1.6 percent. Underlying profit before tax down 17.9 percent to £308 million (2014/15: £375 million).

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Underlying basic earnings per share(3) down 17.2 percent to 12.0 pence (2014/15: 14.5 pence). Return on capital employed(4) of 9.1 percent (2014/15: 11.1 percent). Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit of 8.5 percent (2014/15: 10.3 percent).

Interim dividend 4.0 pence per share, representing 30 percent of last year’s full year dividend (2014/15: 5.0 pence per share). ■