Sainsbury's £261m Loss Despite Growth

Sainsbury's has crashed £261million into the red even though pandemic sales boomed.

-  Geoff Ho

It blamed the cost of the coronavirus and closing standalone Argos stores.

The store giant’s pre-tax loss for the 12 months to March 6 follows a £255million profit in the same period last year.

Revenues rose just 0.2 per cent to £29billion, even though grocery sales were up 7.8 per cent and general merchandise grew 8.3 per cent. It said all this was offset by an 8.5 per cent decline in clothing purchases.