The Sainsbury Board has proposed a final dividend of 9.2 pence per share. This brings the full year dividend to 13.1 pence per share, in line with last year.
Other financial highlights include:
Retail sales up 5.2%, ex. fuel sales up 2.0%. Statutory Group sales (ex. VAT) up 5.3%. Q4 ex. fuel retail sales up 7.1% (7.8% like-for-like)
Grocery sales up 3.0%, driven by inflation and improved market share performance. Q4 grocery sales up 7.4%
General Merchandise (GM) sales down 0.4%, with Argos gaining share in a weak general merchandise market. Q4 GM sales up 7.6% (Argos sales up 9.3%)
Underlying profit before tax of £690 million, down 5% and at the top end of £630 million to £690 million guidance range. Up 18% versus 2019/20 pre-pandemic UPBT of £586 million. Year-on-year decline reflects annualisation of COVID-19 driven grocery volume, investment in the customer proposition and operating cost inflation, partially offset by operating cost savings and lower finance charges
Statutory profit before tax of £327 million versus £854 million last year. Impacted by non-cash asset impairments, driven by a higher discount rate, and one-off income from legal settlements in the prior year
Retail free cash flow £645 million
Year end net funds, excluding leases, of £144 million, a £285 million improvement. Net debt including leases improved by £415 million to £6,344 million
Underlying earnings per share 23.0 pence, down 9%. Basic earnings per share 9.0 pence, down 70%
Outlook: At this early stage of the year, they are to expect UPBT between £640 million and £700 million in FY2023/24 and they aim to continue to expect to generate at least £500 million of Retail free cash flow
