SAINSBURY’S has upped its annual earnings outlook to more than £1billion after a better-than-expected half-year performance.
The supermarket reported an underlying operating profit of £504million for the 28 weeks to September 13.
It was up on last year’s £503million and better than the group expected.
Pre-tax profits also rose by 5 per cent to £271million.
Sainsbury’s previously said retail earnings would remain flat over the year, at around £1billion, due to more competition from rivals on price and rising costs.
But it said: “While we will continue to make balanced choices to sustain the strength of our competitive position at the most important trading period of the year, we now expect retail underlying operating profit of more than £1billion.”
Sales grew 5.5 per cent in the year’s second quarter, with growth in food accelerating to 5.7 per cent.
But its clothing and general merchandise ranges saw sales growth halve to 2.1 per cent in the quarter.
Meanwhile, its Argos arm saw sales growth slow back to 0.1 per cent in the past three months.
Chief exec Simon Roberts said: “Our momentum gives us real confidence as we head into Christmas.”
The firm is cutting £1billion in costs over the next three years to save money after being hit by the National Insurance hike.
ITV ADS CUTS
ITV has warned it will delay airing some programmes to save money, as advertisers cut back on spending before the Budget.
The broadcasting giant is preparing for total advertising revenues to slide by 9 per cent over the final three months of 2025.
ITV hopes pushing some programmes back into the new year will save £20million.
But key shows including I’m A Celebrity will not be affected.
BUILDS BRAKE
CONSTRUCTION activity has fallen at the fastest pace for more than five years amid fears of tax hikes and policy uncertainty.
The latest S&P Global UK construction purchasing managers’ index showed a reading of 44.1 in October, down from 46.2 in the previous month.
Anything under 50 represents decline and analysts at Pantheon Macroeconomics had expected a figure of at least 46.7.
BT LOSES OUT TO RIVALS
BT has lost thousands of customers to rivals and has axed another 5,000 jobs.
The telecoms giant said its number of Openreach broadband customers fell by 242,000 in the second quarter of 2025.
It said this was due to a weaker market and customers switching to competitors. During the same period, BT, which still employs 111,000 staff, made nearly £250million of annual cost-savings.
It is part of a turnaround plan to make £3billion total savings by 2029.
Meanwhile, pre-tax profit dropped by 11 per cent year-on-year to £862million.
