News

Sainsbury's has reported slowing sales growth in the past three months as the supermarket faces a "challenging" economic environment.

Like-for-like sales excluding fuel were up 3.4% in the 12 weeks to 14 June, down from 4.1% growth in the previous quarter.

Chief executive Justin King said Sainsbury's had delivered a "good performance" but the company's share price fell by 7.25p to 328.75p this morning.

King said in-store promotions and the "Feed the family for a fiver" campaign featuring Jamie Oliver had helped boost sales of its expanded Basics range.

The multiple's online operation continued to grow, with sales up 40%.

Sainsbury's said it had continued to drive improvements in its operations in-store and throughout the supply chain.

Last month, Sainsbury's reported a 28% rise in underlying profits to £488m for 2007.