Accelerating growth and market share gains at Sainsbury’s have been overshadowed by uncertainty over the Iran war.
Sainsbury’s grocery sales jumped 5.2% in 2025, as consistent volume growth helped it win market share gains throughout the year.
Full year sales excluding fuel climbed 4.9% to £25.9bn in the year to 28 February 2026, and Sainsbury’s underlying operating profit came in at £1bn as previously guided, though down 1.1% in the year.
Sainsbury’s said it had directly reinvested the underling gains from higher volumes to invest in price amid “unusually high” levels of operating cost inflation. February 2026 marked the sixth consecutive year of volume share gains for the retailer.
Despite that, pre-tax profit rose 1.3% to £718m. And profit after tax shot up 55% to £393m as Sainsbury’s completed the disposal of its banking arm. The group delivered an ahead-of-estimate £574m of free cash flow.
Yet despite the retailer’s “strong competitive position”, it warned investors that the “very uncertain” situation in the Middle East may impact profits. It guided 2027’s underlying operating profit could lie anywhere between £975m and £1.075bn.
Sainsbury’s wider range of guidance echoed Tesco’s admission last week that it had been forced to issue a wider range of guidance than it had expected.
CEO Simon Roberts said Sainsbury’s would maintain an “absolute focus on keeping prices low” over the coming months.
“More and more customers are choosing Sainsbury’s for more of their shopping, trusting us to deliver great value day in day out. The conflict in the Middle East means customers are even more focused on the cost of living and we are absolutely committed to making sure everyone gets the best possible value when they shop with us,” he said.
“By staying relentlessly focused on the things that matter most - value, quality, availability and service - we have outperformed the market for the sixth year in a row. Rather than pass through the full extent of cost inflation, we invested to sustain the strength of our competitive position while also refreshing stores, improving digital experiences and increasing colleague pay by five per cent.”
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