FX.co ★ J Sainsbury FY24 Profit Down, Revenues Rise; Maintaines Dividend; Sees Strong Profit Growth In FY25

The UK supermarket chain, J Sainsbury PLC, announced that its pre-tax profit for the fiscal year of 2024 declined by 15.3% to £277 million, compared to the previous year's £327 million. The basic earnings per share decreased by 34.4% from 9.0 to 5.9 pence.

The company's underlying profit before tax rose slightly to £701 million compared to last year's £690 million. The underlying basic earnings per share were also slightly lower, at 22.1 pence, from the previous year's 23.0 pence.

Sainsbury's group revenue, excluding VAT but including fuel, saw a 3.8% rise to £32.70 billion from £31.49 billion the previous year. Including VAT, group sales went up by 3.4% to £36.34 billion and retail sales grew by 6.8%.

The Sainsbury's Board has recommended a final dividend, similar to the previous year, of 9.2 pence per share to shareholders on the Register of Members as of June 7, to be paid on July 12. The company preserved a full-year dividend of 13.1 pence.

Looking forward, Sainsbury is optimistic about delivering robust profit growth in the forthcoming year. Their strategy includes outpacing the market in grocery volumes growth to drive profit leverage. They also expect continued profit growth contributions from Nectar, a resilient profit performance from Argos, and ongoing strong cost savings. As a result, they project a retail underlying operating profit in the range of £1,010 million to £1,060 million, representing a growth between five and ten percent.