News

Sainsbury's said it wants to halve use of free plastic bags by April 2009, as it reported like-for-like sales growth of 3.9%, excluding petrol, for the year to 22 March.

Total sales reached £19.3bn and underlying pre-tax profit rose by 28% to £488m.

The supermarket said this morning (14 May) that it had achieved 13 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth.

Chief executive Justin King said this was a "great achievement in a challenging market". He expected the market to remain "intensely competitive" as consumer budgets were "clearly under pressure".

The supermarket added that it is increasing the recycled content of its single-use bags from 33-50% and will give free Nectar loyalty points to customers reusing their own bags in stores from next month.

Giving away 15 million 'Bags for Life' made from 100% recycled material had caused a 10% drop in single-use carrier bags and its Wheel of Health traffic light label featured on around 5,000 products, the firm added.

It said 90% of Sainsbury's SO organic fresh produce was in home-compostable, recyclable or recycled packaging.

The multiple added that it will continue to roll out shelf-ready packaging to improve stock replenishment.

The firm has also redesigned the wine labels for its own-brand wines, which from August will incorporate a colour-coded style guide on the front label, and on the top of the capsule, to make it easier for consumers to identify wines in their preferred style.

The style guide will have three descriptions each for red and white wines. Red wines will be described as "light and elegant", "smooth and mellow" and "rich and complex", while white wines will be "crisp and delicate", "soft and fruity" and "complex and elegant".

Sainsbury's had 504 supermarkets at the end of March 2008.

The firm's share price fell by 2.4% to 380.5p following the results announcement.