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| Sainsbury's profits boosted by 'record' Christmas week | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The UK's second largest supermarket, Sainsbury's, has raised its profit guidance after "record" sales during Christmas week. | The UK's second largest supermarket, Sainsbury's, has raised its profit guidance after "record" sales during Christmas week. |
| Sainsbury's said it now expected pre-tax profits to be slightly higher than £559m despite supermarkets facing a "challenging" market. | |
| The chain sold 1.1% more in the last three months, as higher grocery sales made up for lower non-food sales. | |
| Boss Mike Coupe pointed to growth in online orders and premium food ranges. | |
| The company also expects to save an extra £40m as part of a £500m cost-cutting drive that includes axing 2,000 jobs. | |
| Food inflation | |
| Mr Coupe told the BBC that rising food prices had helped grocery sales rise 2.3% in the 15 weeks to 6 January. | |
| He predicted that food price inflation would start to come down over the next six to nine months. | |
| The supermarket said more customers bought their main Christmas meal at Sainsbury's, with sales of turkey and other trimmings up compared to its rivals. | |
| It processed over 340,000 online grocery orders during Christmas week and sold more of its Taste The Difference range. | |
| But Sainsbury's, which also owns Argos, saw sales in general merchandise fall 1.4% despite a strong Black Friday. |