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 | | Wednesday, 24 October, 2001, 08:14 GMT 09:14 UK Sainsbury's trumpets continued revival  Supermarket giant J Sainsbury has revealed further signs of a turnaround under Sir Peter Davis, achieving like-for-like sales growth of 6%. Including trade from new stores, sales grew by 7.6% between July and mid-October, the UK's second-ranking retailer said. The figures represented the third quarter in a row of sales growth "significantly better" than in 2000, and above the rates achieved by rival chains, the firm said. And they confounded expectations, stemming from a Sainsbury statement in July, of a trade slowdown blamed on sector competition and disruption caused by a store refurbishment programme. Man from the Pru The briefing seemed to show that Sir Peter, credited with revitalising the Prudential in the mid-1990s, has been working the same trick at Sainsbury's after replacing Dino Adriano as chief executive early last year.
"We are now in the front of the pack and keeping pace with the leaders," Sir Peter said, commenting that until January the firm had suffered "12 years of soft performance". But City analysts will be keen to see whether Sir Peter has managed to turn increased sales into profits, when Sainsbury's next month reveals half year results. The retailer in May revealed its second consecutive year of falling profits, while claiming a marked improvement in performance towards the end of the period. David Stoddart, retail analysts at Teather & Greenwood, welcomed Wednesday's figures as "much better than expected". But he warned over a Sainsbury pledge to match prices at top-ranking UK grocer Tesco. "That hands too much price control to the market leader," Mr Stoddart said. Costs cut Sir Peter credited the firm's improved performance to measures including the store refurbishment programme, and price cuts supported by a drive to squeeze �150m from operational costs over the year. 'I am particularly pleased to note the tangible results we are experiencing from our investment in delivering great service," he said. "Availability has increased, queues are reduced and customer numbers continue to grow." In the City, Sainsbury shares stood 14.75p higher at 372.5p in morning trade on Wednesday. | | See also:  Top Business stories now:  Links to more Business stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||
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