Poor weather hits clothing sales at Sainsbury's

Supermarket Sainsbury’s has notched up a rise in first-quarter sales as solid grocery trading offset a hit from poor early summer weather on its general merchandise and clothing businesses.

The chain reported a 3% rise in like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, in the 16 weeks to 22 June, stripping out the closure of its Argos business in Ireland

Sainsbury’s revealed that general merchandise and clothing sales fell 4.3%, reflecting a "positive improvement" in clothing sales momentum, particularly in womenswear, benefiting from renewed focus on core ranges but offset by the impact of unseasonal weather in recent weeks.

Earlier this year, Sainsbury’s shared its desire for general merchandise and clothing inside its stores to become more aligned with customers’ grocery missions, ensuring ranges are more "relevant and desirable".

In combination with a more profitable food offer, this hopes to generate significantly better sales and profit returns on store space.

Total grocery sales lifted 4.8% as the firm saw robust growth by volume, although this was the slowest growth seen for many quarters as food inflation has fallen back significantly, while sales in the Argos business fell 6.2% due to weaker demand for consumer electronics and gaming products.

The British supermarket chain said it was sticking to its guidance for underlying retail operating profits of between £1.01 billion and £1.06 billion for the full year, which would represent growth of 5% to 10%.

Simon Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Sainsbury’s, said: "We are pleased with our market-beating grocery performance.

"We’ve been winning from competitors every month for 15 months, as more and more people are choosing Sainsbury’s for their big weekly shop."

Roberts added that the group was also "gearing up for Wimbledon this week and England’s quarter final match on Saturday night".