Justin King, Sainsbury’s chief executive, has told George Osborne that firms will invest if he sticks to a “consistent” policy.
He made his comments as the UK’s third-biggest grocer delivered an acceleration in underlying revenue growth in its fourth quarter, boosted by a surge in sales of its Basics and Taste the Difference ranges. Sainsbury’s, has grown its underlying sales ahead of Tesco, Wm Morrison and Asda in recent months. Sainsbury’s shares rose 8.9p to 314.4p.
On today’s Budget, King said
Osborne needed to “give confidence to consumers and business”. He added: “We have not had a consistent approach to policy on business in the past few years.” King, who took charge of Sainsbury’s eight years ago, cited changes to the Government’s carbon reduction policy relating to feed-in tariff subsidies, which were designed to provide rebates to firms that install solar panels on their roofs.
He said: “Confidence in the future comes with consistent policy. Companies have money on their balance sheets and if they have confidence in the future they will invest.” Sainsbury’s posted a growth of 2.6% in like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, over the 10 weeks to March 17, contributing to a 2.1% rise over the full year. Stripping out a 0.8% boost from store extensions, underlying sales rose 1.8% in its fourth quarter. King said: “It is our strongest quarter of the past four and is a strong finish to the year.” He added: “We have kicked on ahead of our competitors”.
Total sales rose by 5.1% excluding fuel in its fourth quarter. Sales of its Basics range rose by 10% but the star performer its Taste the Difference ranges, which grew by almost 20%.
