Sainsbury’s warns on ‘tough’ trading conditions as sales growth slows

Sainsbury’s has lifted its profit targets for the full year even as it reported slowing sales and warned of “tough” conditions in the coming months. The UK’s second-largest supermarket said the “consistent strength of our customer offer” is driving sales growth and gains in market share, despite chief executive Simon Roberts warning that “many households are finding things tough at the moment”. Sainsbury’s has lifted the lower end of its full-year profit target from £965m to £1.025bn, with an upper range of £1.065bn. The FTSE 100 firm’s like-for-like sales growth slowed in the three months to September, from 2.3 to 1.2 per cent. Grocery sales growth slowed from 3.5 to 2.2 per cent while general merchandise and clothing sales improved slightly, from a decrease of 3.7 to 2.9 per cent. Since becoming chief executive of Sainsbury’s in 2020, Roberts has pushed for the grocer to focus more on its food offering. In July, Sainsbury s sold Argos the struggling general retailer it