money Sainsbury's enjoys record Christmas as it goes to war with Aldi over food prices - live updates
Sainsbury's has gone to war with discounters Aldi and Lidl, claiming to be raising prices slower than rivals as it reported a record Christmas.
The UK's second-largest supermarket said sales over the festive season were not only driven by higher prices but the volume of goods sold too.
It said total sales, excluding fuel, grew by 5.2pc over the 16 weeks to January 7, compared with the same period last year.
British supermarkets fought fiercely to attract customers in the run up to Christmas with Aldi and Lidl also posting record sales as consumers sought to save money on groceries.
Sainsbury’s told shareholders that profits for the year are now expected to be towards the upper end of its previously announced guidance of between £630mn and £690m.
It said that growth was buoyed by "inflation and relatively resilient volume trends".
Chief executive Simon Roberts said: "We delivered the best possible Christmas for customers as millions of households managed their budgets differently, hosting larger gatherings again and treating themselves at home.
"Customers shopped early, buying Christmas treats and fizz more than once and looked for deals, taking advantage of Black Friday and other seasonal offers.
"Argos offered great value and quality, and, as train and postal strikes disrupted the country, customers appreciated its reliability and convenience.
"Sales were also boosted by the World Cup as people celebrated more at home.
"Our determined focus on delivering the best value alongside new and exciting festive food, plus outstanding customer service and availability, meant we delivered record sales and market outperformance at both Sainsbury's and Argos."
Read the latest updates below.
08:01 AM
Markets mixed at the open
It has been another tentative start on the markets as traders work out what to do after Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell declined to give any hints on the future direction of interest rates.
The FTSE 100 opened 0.4pc lower at 7,696 while the FTSE 250 was up 0.1pc to 19,416.
07:56 AM
Barratt fears it may build fewer homes this year
House builder Barratt Developments has seen a sharp slowdown in sales as high borrowing costs and the threat of falling house prices hit the property market.
The company's average number of weekly private sales has more than halved. Bosses warned the company may deliver fewer homes than expected.
Net private reservations per week fell to 0.3pc in the second half of last year, compared to 0.69pc over the same period in 2021.
Its forward order book has dropped to 10,511 homes over the same period, compared to 14,818 the year before.
Chief executive David Thomas said: "Political and economic uncertainty impacted the first quarter; this was then compounded by rapid and significant changes in mortgage rates which reduced affordability, homebuyer confidence and reservation activity though the second quarter."
07:48 AM
JD Sports hails 'particularly impressive' sales
Retail chain JD Sports Fashion has said annual profits will be towards the top end of expectations after cheering festive sales growth of more than 20pc.
The chain said the performance in the six weeks to December 31 was "particularly impressive" across both stores and online, helping it notch up total sales growth of 10pc in the 22 weeks so far of its second half.
This compared with growth of 5pc in the first six months.
JD Sports said it now expects group underlying pre-tax profits for the year to January 28 to be towards the top end of market expectations, which range from £933m to £985m.
It said: "The ultimate outturn will, however, reflect trading through the remainder of January with the post-Christmas sale period still to take place in some of our most important European markets."
It also guided for underlying profits to edge up to just over £1bn in the next financial year.
07:36 AM
Sainsbury's goes to war with Aldi on food prices
Sainsbury's claims to be raising prices slower than rivals, putting at odds with discounters like Aldi.
Britain's second-largest supermarket said it had a record Christmas with a gain in sales that was not only driven by higher prices but the volume of goods sold too.
Sainsbury has had to absorb some of its own surging costs while at the same time keeping prices keen and shoppers loyal.
British supermarkets fought fiercely to attract customers in the approach to Christmas and German discounters Aldi and Lidl saw record sales as consumers sought to save money on groceries.
Chief executive Simon Roberts said:
We delivered the best possible Christmas for customers as millions of households managed their budgets differently, hosting larger gatherings again and treating themselves at home.
Customers shopped early, buying Christmas treats and fizz more than once and looked for deals, taking advantage of Black Friday and other seasonal offers.
Argos offered great value and quality, and, as train and postal strikes disrupted the country, customers appreciated its reliability and convenience.
Sales were also boosted by the World Cup as people celebrated more at home.
Our determined focus on delivering the best value alongside new and exciting festive food, plus outstanding customer service and availability, meant we delivered record sales and market outperformance at both Sainsbury's and Argos.
07:31 AM
Sainsbury's expects profits at 'upper end' after Christmas sales boost
Sainsbury's has said early Christmas shopping helped sales jump over the latest quarter despite pressure on consumers from the rising cost of living.
The UK's second largest supermarket chain revealed that total sales, excluding fuel, grew by 5.2pc over the 16 weeks to January 7, compared with the same period last year.
It said that growth was buoyed by "inflation and relatively resilient volume trends".
Sainsbury's told shareholders that profits for the year are now expected to be towards the "upper end" of its previously announced guidance of between £630 million and £690 million.
07:30 AM
Oil price cap costing Vladimir Putin £140m a day
The price cap on Russian oil imposed by the G7 group of nations is costing the Kremlin about £140m a day.
Russia's earnings from fossil fuel exports fell 17pc in December, to the lowest level since the country’s invasion of Ukraine, according to a report from the Helsinki-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The cost to Vladimir Putin’s regime will rise to about £246m a day when the EU’s ban on refined oil imports, the extension of the price cap to refined oil and reductions in pipeline oil imports to Poland come into force on February 5.
The EU, China, India, Turkey and Japan were the largest importers of Russian fossil fuels last week.
The Research on Energy and Clean Air report said crude oil shipments from Russia appear to have bottomed out after the fall in the weeks after the introduction of the price cap and the EU's import ban.
Russia is still making an estimated £565m per day from exporting fossil fuels, down from a high of £883m in March to May 2022.
The G7 oil price cap has led to a 12pc drop in Russian crude oil exports and a 23pc drop in sales prices.
This has resulted in a 32pc drop in Russian crude oil revenues in December, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said.
At the end of December, they decreased by another 5pc due to the termination of pipeline oil imports by Germany.
So far, Russia has earned about £2.7bn from transporting crude oil on vessels subject to the price cap, resulting in approximately £1.8bn in tax revenue for the Kremlin.
This could be almost completely eliminated, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said, by reducing the marginal price to a level much closer to the cost of Russia-producing oil.
It said the price cap coalition has powerful leverage to lower the price cap, adding that Russia has not found a viable alternative to vessels owned and/or insured by G7 countries to transport Russian oil products, particularly crude oil, from Baltic and Black Sea ports.
07:10 AM
Good morning
The impact of the price cap on Russian oil has been laid bare this morning, as a new report shows it is costing the Kremlin about £140m a day.
This figure will rise to around £246m a day once the cap is extended to refined products on February 5, according to the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air.
The EU remained the largest importer of oil from Russia in December, when pipeline crude oil and all oil products are included.
This will have changed as Germany ceased to import Russian pipeline oil at the end of December and the EU oil products ban enters into force in February.
5 things to start your day
1) Central banks must not lead fight on climate change, says Fed chief. Jerome Powell said it was essential that institutions “resist the temptation” to wade into “social issues” that go beyond their remit.
2) Electric car production slows as drivers opt for cheaper models. The Advanced Propulsion Centre has slashed its estimate for UK EV production in 2025 by a quarter.
3) Macron confronts the grim reality of France’s pension time bomb. as France confronts a difficult economic climate and an aging population, President Emmanuel Macron is making yet another fraught attempt to overhaul the pension system.
4) Lockdown and recession will blight careers of over a million graduates, warns Institute for Fiscal Studies.
5) Bank of England cracks down on buy-to-let mortgages. Threadneedle Street has warned banks that it intends to scrutinise risky areas more heavily given rising interest rates and a surge in inflation.
What happened overnight
Asian equities edged higher, while the dollar steadied as investors braced for US inflation data that will influence the Federal Reserve's interest rate policy.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.28pc higher, while Japan's Nikkei grew 1pc and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index climbed 0.80pc.
China's stocks opened 0.1pc higher and Hong Kong's Hang Seng index gained 0.6pc at the start of the day.
Overnight, US stocks ended higher as investors heaved a sigh of relief after Fed Chair Jerome Powell refrained in a speech from commenting on rate policy but said the Fed's independence was essential for it to battle inflation.
