Half of supermarket's 拢8.6bn property portfolio will be refurbished over the next three years
Sainsbury鈥檚 has reported a 42 per cent rise in pre-tax profit in its annual results for the year ended March 2007 and is to refurbish over half of its property portfolio in the next three years.
The supermarket has seen a massive rise in pre-tax profit from 拢267m in 2006 to 拢380m. The group鈥檚 total sales were up 6.7 per cent from 拢17m in 2005 to 拢18.5 this year.
Sainsbury鈥檚 property portfolio has been valued at 拢8.6bn, 65 per cent over the current net book value.
The company鈥檚 goals for its three year plan have been laid out and include a ten per cent growth in new space and the refurbishment of over half its existing stores for which around 拢750m has been earmarked.
The group has been at the centre of some controversy this year after a period of takeover speculation when the group were in talks with a private equity firm about a 拢10bn deal. But the deal fell through.
Chairman Philip Hampton said: 鈥淭he board received a number of proposals from a private equity consortium all of which were subject to a number of pre-conditions related to the consortium鈥檚 proposed financial structure.
鈥淭hese conditions were outside the control of the Board and the consortium concluded they could not be satisfied and decided to withdraw.鈥�
Commenting on the results, chief executive Justin King said: 鈥淭his strong sales performance is ahead of our own expectations. It's also our best for many years. We believe now is the right time to look to the next stage of our recovery and to expand the business to drive growth for the longer-term.
鈥淭oday we are announcing new three-year targets which build on the strong
progress we've made to date and move us from recovery to long-term growth. Our
focus on driving sales continues with a target to deliver 拢3.5 billion of
additional sales split two-thirds from grocery and one-third from non-food
ranges from March 2007 to March 2010. Added to the 拢1.8 billion of sales growth
already delivered, this new target, if achieved, would give a total sales growth
of 拢5.3 billion over the five-year period March 2005 to March 2010.鈥�
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