Sainsbury's quarterly sales drop 4% as UK consumers cut spending

"The pressure on household budgets will only intensify over the remainder of the year and I am very clear that doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues will remain at the very top of our agenda." Sainsbury's, Britain's second biggest supermarket after Tesco, said it still expected its underlying pretax profit for the year to be between 630 million and 690 million pounds ($836 million).

British supermarket group Sainsbury's reported a 4% fall in underlying sales in its first quarter, driven by weakness in general merchandise as cash-strapped consumers held back on discretionary spending.

Grocery sales fell 2.4% over the 16 weeks to June 25, while general merchandise sales fell 11.2%. Chief Executive Simon Roberts said Sainsbury's understood how hard it was for millions of households right now and it was doing everything it could to keep prices low.

"The progress we are making on improving value, quality, innovation, and service is reflected in our improved grocery volume market share," he said on Tuesday. "The pressure on household budgets will only intensify over the remainder of the year and I am very clear that doing the right thing for our customers and colleagues will remain at the very top of our agenda."

Sainsbury's, Britain's second-biggest supermarket after Tesco, said it still expected its underlying pretax profit for the year to be between 630 million and 690 million pounds ($836 million). The company also said its chief financial officer Kevin O'Byrne would retire in March 2023 and would be succeeded by commercial and retail finance director Blathnaid Bergin. ($1 = 0.8256 pounds)