Sainsbury (j) Share Discussion Threads

[loganair] 02/1/2024 11:18

Rules will soon become mandatory to ensure customers only pick loose fruit and vegetables in supermarkets. Pre-packed produce will no longer be available under the change, reports the MirrorOnline.

That's disgusting as I can imagine half the people touching all this lose fresh fruit and veg haven't washed their hands since they last went to the toilet.

[pirates4] 28/12/2023 12:41

Time sainsburys to make a bid for asda then. Jmo.

[pete160] 26/12/2023 20:44

Lazy dosser says the poster who just copy and pastes other people's work. :-)
In any case, unless you're a day trader, I don't think it really matters whether the market is open full days, part days, or just twice a week.
It might be that the London Market does better if we shut when the US opened ?

[tim 3] 26/12/2023 17:57

100% especially when you consider many retail staff and nhs etc lucky to get 2 days off !

[spob] 26/12/2023 17:25

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I see the LSE is half day Friday.

Not a bank hol and not new years eve.

Lazy dossers

[bountyhunter] 23/12/2023 13:42

"Sainsbury’s has strengthened its positioning through the year, with Goldman’s proprietary price analysis indicating that it has closed the price gap versus Aldi, becoming the second of the Big 4 to do so."



“Consequently, Sainsbury’s has seen strongly improving market share momentum, with recent market share gains outpacing Aldi,”

[spob] 20/12/2023 14:40

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Debt-ridden Asda faces soaring interest bill exceeding £400m


Georgia Wright

Retail Gazette

20 December 2023


Asda Billionaire Issa brothers 'laser-focused' on helping employees and brits through cost-of-living crisis despite profits slipping

By early next year Asda is set to see its debt interest bill exceed £400m, driven by escalating interest rates that are piling pressure on the private equity-owned supermarket.

The grocer’s chief financial officer Michael Gleeson told the Business & Trade Committee on this week that the company’s debt interest bill would rise by as much as £30m in February when half a billion pounds of loans switch from a fixed to floating interest rate.

The £500m in borrowings are part of the debts taken on by the supermarket to finance the acquisition of Asda in 2021. Brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa bought the retailer in a highly-leveraged £6.8bn takeover alongside the private equity firm TD

The £500m in borrowings are part of the debts taken on by the supermarket to finance the £6.8bn acquisition of Asda back in 2021 by brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity firm TDR.

The grocer currently has around £4.2bn of debt, accruing interest payments of £396m in 2022 and that annual bill is on track to rise to £426m in February unless interest rates fall before then.

Asda’s debt interest bill has risen from an estimated £90m in 2021 as the Bank of England has rapidly increased interest in a bid to bust inflation.

The Telegraph reports that Gleeson appeared before the committee beside Mohsin Issa on Tuesday to answer questions about the company’s finances and the role of private equity in the supermarket sector.

MPs fear the high levels of borrowing will prevent grocers from passing on falling prices to customers.

Issa stressed there were “no gaps” in Asda’s finances and insisted the supermarket could cover its debts.

He told MPs: “What I would say is that the debt leverage at the start of the year was at 4.2 times, that has gone down to 3.8 times and that trajectory is to go down even further by the end of this year.

“At the same time, we are investing in colleague pay, customer pricing and loyalty. The business is highly cash generative.”

The Issa brothers have spent much of the last year selling off assets in order to pay down borrowings accrued by their petrol station empire EG Group.

This included the £2bn sale of EG Group’s UK assets to Asda earlier this year, subsequently burdening Asda with an additional debt amounting to hundreds of millions of pounds.

Issa defended his running of the company to MPs and said had “chosen to invest in customers”, including spending £140m on price cuts to help with the cost of living crisis, at the expense of profits.

[loganair] 18/12/2023 11:46

net - Currys started as a UK firm and often UK firms struggle outside of the UK whereas ALDi/Lidl started off by being German in the first place then moved into the UK.

Also I know how Currys is run, and it is run extremely badly with Area and Regional mangers acting as though the stores under them are their chiefdom and are very malevolently dictatorial in the way they are towards the stores under them.

I disagree about Poundland, when the new Poundland opened where my teen is at college, customers were walking in and talking about it as though it was a winter wonderland full of surprises.

Sainsbury's will hammer ASDA, Morrison which they are already doing so due to the extensive amount of debt the new owners took on in order to buy out these two supermarkets and Iceland is also struggling under their debt pile.

[netcurtains] 18/12/2023 11:12

loganair: Being Europe wide (like Currys) can cause problems when it goes pear shaped.
I think Sainsburys hammers Alidi/Lidl/Iceland/Poundland hands down.

[loganair] 18/12/2023 10:55

Net - I disagree, how can Sainsbury's beat the discounters into the ground when each have 5,6,7 times the turn over of Sainsbury's therefore they have far more buying power than Sainsbury's.

Sainsbury's was not set up to compete on price, which is what they are trying to do against Aldi/Lidl

Also being European wide, the likes of Aldi/Lidl have far more connection with the European farmers and food manufactures than any of the British Supermarket chains have.

[pirates4] 18/12/2023 09:39

Oh ..and sainsburys items to be picked are more than any other stores. As much as 23,000 per day.

[pirates4] 18/12/2023 09:37

You can compare thus at most major stores.

[pirates4] 18/12/2023 09:36

I disagree with the percentage here.Sainsburys stores have more online shoppers than tesco,Tesco online shopping carts have 6 boxes for food, whileSainsburys have 8 boxes for online shopping carts.I have seen as much as 25 to 30 online shoppers at sainsburys Tescos have 15

[netcurtains] 18/12/2023 07:47

loganair: "sainsburys not set up as a discount retailer"

I went for a job interview to Sainsburys 30 years ago.

It was for a Telon DB2 contract...

The interviewer asked:

"Why does good food COST LESS at Sainsburys"....

And I had to give all the reasons why...

They clearly are proud of a long tradition of cost cutting.....

I'm 100% sure Sainsburys will beat the Germans into the ground...

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:49

How has online shopping market share gone over the past 5 years:

Tesco.....37.5% to 34.9%
Sainsbury.15.5% to 21.3%
ASDA......23.9% to 19.0%
Ocado.....17.5% to 14.5%

Why does Ocado have a higher market cap then Sainsbury's when it is losing over all market share, losing on-line market share and has never made a profit and is still not profitable???

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:42

Nielsen grocery data for the four and half weeks to 2 December starkly reveals the share winners & losers in the sector, says broker Shore Capital.

The winners are the German discount chains, Marks & Spencer/Ocado Retail, Sainsbury's and Tesco UK, while the often over-leveraged are in the losing camp with Iceland rock bottom.

Shore Capital expects the New Year trading updates to confirm the ‘haves’ have taken the bulk of these spoils.

Discount stores Lidl and Aldi, Marks & Spencer/Ocado, Sainsbury and Tesco UK should sustain share gains, with the often financially leveraged businesses such as Asda, Morrisons and Iceland feeling the pinch.

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:35

The bear case for Aldi/Lidl is 20% UK grocery market share while the Bull case is up to 30% market share while for many years my own forecast/prediction has been and still is for 25%.

In September 2023 Kantar gave Aldi/Lidl combines market share of 17.7% while Neilsen gave exactly 20.0% - so which of the two are more accurate.

The problem I have had with Kantar is how they never include M&S in their UK grocery market share who have circa 3.5% therefore how can Kantar ever be correct when they give out their UK grocery market share.

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:20

After two decades of aggressive expansion carrying them to controlling a joint 17.9 per cent of the total UK grocery market, some believe the two chains are reaching saturation point, even if the ongoing cost of living crisis is providing a boost.

Analysts point to how they rely on a single selling point — that they are cheaper than rivals, or perceived to be — have more limited online operations than rivals and are in competition for good bricks and mortar locations.

“Obviously there are fewer available sites now, and most of those sites are also attractive to quite a few of the other operators,” said Ben Green at Atrato, adviser to the real estate investment trust Supermarket Income REIT. “Interestingly, quite often Aldi might end up competing with Marks and Spencer for a site.” 

Green believes their market share will settle at about 20 per cent. “It’s quite hard for them to grow because they have one customer proposition: quality value,” he said.

“I do think we have gone through peak Aldi and Lidl despite their rhetoric,” added Clive Black at Shore Capital. He described Aldi’s plan for a further 500 stores as “aspirational . .̴1;. a totemic statement to say ‘we’re not going away’.”

Not everyone is as bearish. Bryan Roberts, global insight leader at grocery analytics group IGD, said rival supermarkets have long held a view that Aldi and Lidl are likely to reach between 25 per cent and 30 per cent market share — the size of Tesco, and their ambition should not be underestimated.

“The potential they have has really been unlocked by the fact that they are a lot less kind of dogmatic about their real estate requirements,” he said.

The pair used to favour rectangular sites, near busy junctions or close to incumbents, but they are now opening slightly larger stores in more retail parks.

Despite being more flexible in how they build their store estate, Aldi and Lidl have not deviated from the hyper-efficient business model that has contributed to their success since they set up shop in the UK in the 1990s.

Their outlets are significantly smaller than traditional supermarkets and they have a limited number of ranges — about 2,000 compared with Tesco’s tens of thousands — as well as fewer staff. Shelves are specifically designed to fit cardboard boxes stuffed with produce, which makes restocking more efficient than placing items one by one on the shelf. To combat high energy bills, they have been installing large so-called chiller doors on most fridges. 

Lower operational costs and selling largely own-label products — 90 per cent in Aldi’s case — means they can beat incumbents on price as they have the scale necessary to negotiate better deals with suppliers.

The two German discounters made serious inroads during the last recession when it became culturally acceptable to be seen in an Aldi or Lidl. A so-called “claret offensive” at Lidl, selling a premium range of Bordeaux wine, lobsters for £5, and their eclectic middle aisles of lifestyle, household and DIY bargains puts them on the radar of more discerning buyers. They responded by opening hundreds more stores, often in more affluent locations. 

The cost of living squeeze has once again put the wind in their sails as an increasing number of shoppers is doing a fuller shop at the discounters.

Being private also allows Aldi and Lidl to keep prying eyes at bay and not to be held to ransom by shareholders if they do not meet their sales or profit forecasts. 

Hurley considers this “an absolutely tremendous strength of our business”. “It means we can make very long-term decisions, even when the road is bumpy.”

Aldi previously aimed to have 1,200 stores by 2025, but it has revised its target and wants to open 1,500 over the long term. Hurley said that although the new openings no longer have a deadline, he is confident he would find sites — although he admitted London, a key area of growth, is proving more problematic.  

Lidl target, is 1,100 sites by the end of 2025. Its parent company in Germany injected more than £400mn in the UK chain this year, according to recent filings at Companies House. 

Ryan McDonnell, chief executive of Lidl UK, said there was “no limit on our expansion plans and we see the potential for hundreds of new stores across Great Britain”. ;

He added: “We’re more committed than ever to ensuring that every single household has access to a Lidl store as we continue to grow and invest in our infrastructure.̶1; 

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:08

What next for the discounters?


Mintel director of retail research EMEA Neil Mason also believes that both Aldi and Lidl could look to expand their non-food offer, as their middle aisle offer has always been popular with online shoppers.

Retail Economics CEO Richard Lim adds that customer data is going to be “absolutely critical” for both discounters in order to “enhance the lifetime value of their customers”.

Since Aldi famously doesn’t have a loyalty card scheme, this could become a key difference between the competing supermarkets.

Lidl’s loyalty scheme turns to gamification to stand out, in stark contrast to the member pricing model that many supermarkets have adopted.

The Lidl Plus app taps into gambling and has used both ‘spin the wheel’ and scratchcards to win a prize after every shopping trip, providing the instant gratification that many crave.

However, the biggest factor for both retailers is to try to retain the custom they have attracted during the cost-of-living crisis.

Kantar Consulting associate director Sophie Carroll believes they can do it: “‘Discount shopping is here to stay’ to quote Hurley,” she says.

“As a result, both Lidl and Aldi are poised for continued growth, much as they did in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis”.

Aldi chief executive Giles Hurley himself says shoppers are using Aldi in a different way and it has become shoppers’ first-choice supermarket for their weekly shop, rather than just a “top up”.

Hurley says: “What we’re seeing is a new generation of savvy shoppers who’ve turned their back on traditional, full-price supermarkets in favour of transparent, low prices, which is what we’re famous for.

“That’s why we’re still welcoming more and more customers through our doors – people who come to us for our low prices but stay for the award-winning quality of our exclusive brands.”

Let’s see if that quality – as well as price – can convince shoppers to stick with the discounters as inflation finally eases.

[loganair] 17/12/2023 21:00

Lidl GB CEO Ryan McDonnell says there is “no ceiling” to its ambitions in the UK and that it saw the potential for hundreds of new stores.

Lidl has added more than 1.4 million new customers during the first 10 months of 2023.

Retail Economics CEO Richard Lim argues that Aldi is in “more of a market leading position” whilst Lidl is focused on growth at all costs.

He says: “Where Lidl is a little less mature in the market and on a big growth expansion, there’s probably the tendency for it to sacrifice some of its margin in a trade off for growth and market share compared to Aldi.”

Retail Economics CEO Richard Lim argues that Aldi is in “more of a market leading position” whilst Lidl is focused on growth at all costs.

He says: “Where Lidl is a little less mature in the market and on a big growth expansion, there’s probably the tendency for it to sacrifice some of its margin in a trade off for growth and market share compared to Aldi.”

Mintel director of retail research EMEA Neil Mason believes Aldi will continue to outperform Lidl in the longer term as he believes that – despite last year’s showing – its store expansion strategy is “bolder and more aggressive”.

IGD senior insight analyst Dan Butler agrees that Aldi looks set to retain its lead as he believes Lidl could find funding future expansion challenging.

Kantar’s Carroll points out that that Lidl’s owner has been happy to invest in its growth.

“Lidl, and parent company, Schwarz Group say they are relaxed about current profit levels because they are focused on the long-term opportunity, which we can see evolving across the ecosystem the group is constructing,” she says.

However, Lim points out while the discounters are battling with each other, “the main opportunity lies in whether they can take market share off the traditional big four supermarkets” as shoppers trade down.

“I wouldn’t be able to pick out one winner over the other, but it will be the supermarket that can adapt the fastest to the opportunity. The one that continues to drive efficiencies within their business.

“Some of those efficiencies are going to be in things like investing in technology, driving better efficiencies in supply chain, trying to invest in better customer service and keeping a forensic eye on their profitability.

“But I would probably say from a market perspective, they are both going to be winners.”

[loganair] 17/12/2023 20:55

Also as Aldi/Lidal have worldwide operations they can use higher profit margins in one country to cover lower profit margins in say the UK.

[loganair] 17/12/2023 20:51

Sainsbury's is basically trying to take on Aldi/Lidl just on price and were not set up to be a discounter, in the same way legacy branded airlines are trying to take on the likes of Ryanair, EasyJet or Wizz Air just on price and have been continually losing the battle by doing so.

Per pound of turnover is costs far more to run Sainsbury's or Tesco than Aldi or Lidl and they also have far more buying power than Sainsbury's or Lidl.

Aldi/Lidl run at half the staff per pound of turnover compared to the likes of Sainsbury's or Tesco.