Supermarket group Sainsbury’s, owners of furniture brand Habitat and catalogue retailer Argos, has reported a growth in full year sales but a decline in Argos.
According to its Preliminary Results for the 52 weeks ended 1 March 2025, total group sales rose 1.8% to £32.8bn, driven by Sainsbury’s with sales up 4.2% to £26.6bn. Argos sales were down 2.7% to £4.6bn.
Year-end profit resulted at £242m, up 76.6% from £137m recorded in the previous year.
Commenting on Argos, the group said: “Following a slow start to the financial year and a significant reduction in online traffic, Argos sales were behind our expectations in the first half of the year, particularly in the first quarter and early weeks of the second quarter.
“Sales strengthened into the second half as we took action to improve online customer traffic and volume and we returned to sales growth in the fourth quarter. Profits declined year on year in both H1 and H2, with actions taken during the year improving the trend in the second half.
“Within a general merchandise market that remains highly competitive, our focus is on increasing customers’ consideration of Argos – encouraging them to shop with us more often and with bigger baskets. To this end, we are driving change in our digital and commercial proposition, and we have made some good progress strengthening the Argos offer.
“Through our Supplier Direct Fulfilment (SDF) model we have introduced more than 4,000 new products this year across 150 categories. This is a 43 per cent increase year-on-year, with a total of 13,500 SDF products now available. In the year ahead we plan to go further to extend the breadth of our range, with plans to add an additional 10,000 SDF products in key categories such as Household Electronics, Furniture, Computing and Gifting.”
The group opened 16 new Argos stores in Sainsbury’s and closed 10 standalone Argos stores during the period. As at 1 March 2025, Argos had 664 stores, including 461 stores in Sainsbury’s, and a total of 1,107 points of presence.
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive of J Sainsbury plc, said: “We’ve transformed our business over the past four years. We have created a winning combination of value, quality and service that customers love, investing £1 billion in lowering our prices. More people are choosing Sainsbury’s for their main grocery shop as a result, delivering our highest market share gains in more than a decade. We are committed, above all else, to sustaining the strong competitive position we have built – consistently giving customers the great value they have come to expect from Sainsbury’s – and we expect to continue to outperform the market.
“Our belief in the strength of Sainsbury’s offer has driven our decision to make our largest investment in expanding our store space in over a decade as we open supermarkets in key new locations and extend food space within many of our existing stores. It’s also why we continue to invest in our colleagues, whose dedication will power our Next Level plan. Working together with our suppliers we will continue to deliver for our customers, our shareholders and the communities we serve.”
