Sainbury issued a promising trading statement last week but why no mention of margins? It's not alone with all the other multiples reluctant to cover margins in their quarterly updates. Good see that Marks gives them a mention.
Commentary at www.investorschampion.com

JP Morgan Cazenove Underweight 0.00 360.00 360.00 Reiterates

Nomura Neutral 0.00 355.00 380.00 Reiterates

Morgan Stanley Overweight 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Charles Stanley Accumulate 0.00 - - Reiterates

Tradenext Buy 0.00 500.00 500.00 Reiterates

Credit Suisse Underperform 0.00 285.00 285.00 Reiterates

Espirito Santo Execution Noble Neutral 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Morgan Stanley Overweight 0.00 400.00 400.00 Retains

Top of the shops: Sainsbury is Morgan Stanley's pick from the basket
By Ian Lyall May 22 2013, 12:45pm Aubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumesAubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumes

Sainsbury (LON:SBRY) is the only share worth owning in the UK food retail space, according to Morgan Stanley, which has given a rather dour assessment of the sector.

“Given likely further compression of return on capital invested for the sector over the next two years, we view the UK food retail sector as unattractive at current valuations,” said analyst Edouard Aubin in a note to clients.

Market leader Tesco (LON:TSCO) and Morrisons (LON:MRW) are rated ‘underweight’ by Morgan Stanley, while it remains ‘overweight’ Sainsbury.

Aubin points out the UK’s major grocers are spending significantly more expanding their floor-space than their European rivals, with selling space now exceeding grocery volumes.

He says he expects the industry to “remain rational from a pricing standpoint”, which in layman’s terms means the analyst doesn’t expect a margin-sapping price war for customers.

This, Aubin said, is principally because Tesco is attempting “protect its P&L” (profits). However he warned: “[We] think something will nevertheless have to give as supply outstrips demand, and we expect further decline in asset turn.”

The research suggests that of the ‘big four’ supermarket groups (the fourth is Asda, owned by Wal-Mart), Tesco (LON:TSCO) has the most to lose from the current shake-out in the sector and as its rivals continue to flex their muscle.

Unsettling for the management of Britain’s largest retailer is research from Morgan Stanley that suggests Tesco has seen the sharpest decline of the majors in the value for money ratings.

The American bank’s price target for Tesco is 310 pence (current price 383 pence), while it said Morrisons is worth 225 pence (281 pence) and Sainsbury 400 pence (387 pence).

“We believe that Sainsbury will continue to outperform the market in terms of sales momentum given that, in Brand Match, it has found a way to tackle its biggest problem – price perception,” Aubin added.

“However, as our latest Alphawise survey showed, there is still a large gap between Sainsbury’s price perception and price reality.

“As such, we think there is still more to go for (Sainsbury still has lower grocery sales per sq ft than its main competitors Tesco, Morrisons’ and Asda) despite operating a larger share of its store network in the richest part of the UK).”

Sainsbury (LSE: SBRY.L - news) 's

We'll have a first-quarter update from J Sainsbury on Wednesday, and hopes are high for this year. The UK's second biggest supermarket posted nice full-year results for the year to March 2013 in May, revealing a 4.6% rise in sales with underlying pre-tax profit up 6.2%. Underlying earnings per share rose 9% to 30.7p, enabling a full-year dividend of 16.7p per share -- and that provided a yield of 4.6%.

Forecasts for this year paint a similar picture, with a 6% rise in earnings per share predicted. There's also a 4.7% rise in the dividend to about 17.5p penciled in, which should be well covered, and it would provide a similar 4.6% yield on the current price.

And that price? Well, it's slipped a bit over the past couple of weeks along with the FTSE in general, but at 363p it's still up 25% over the past 12 months, and is ahead of the index.

Trading Statement

Solid sales performance in a challenging market

· Total sales for first quarter up 3.6 per cent (3.3 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for first quarter up 0.7 per cent (0.8 per cent excluding fuel)

· Market share up 0.2 percent to 16.8 per cent

· Winner of the prestigious Grocer 33 Customer Service and Availability Awards

Questor share tip: Hold J Sainsbury as it powers ahead
J Sainsbury is the best performing supermarket this year. Questor says hold.
Garry White By Garry White
6:00AM BST 16 Jun 2013

The supermarket’s first-quarter update revealed same-store sales rose 0.7pc, or 0.8pc excluding fuel. This represented a quarter-on-quarter slowdown from

3.6pc, but it is a much better performance than its rivals. Such “lumpy” quarters are to be expected, but it is reassuring that the group maintained its guidance of like-for-like sales increasing by 1pc to 1.5pc over the year.

One particular bright spot is the success of its own-brand products. Sales of its high-end “Taste the Difference” range jumped 10pc and crossed the £1bn sales mark for the first time. This helped to boost the group’s market share by 0.2 percentage points to 16.8pc.

Non-food continues to grow at more than twice the rate of food. Rivals have had problems with their non-food offering, but Sainsbury’s is sensibly not focusing on the low-margin, competitive electronic goods space, but on items such as homewares, cooking utensils and greetings cards, which have solid margins.
Indeed, in last week’s statement, management said that its non-food offering was helping to boost overall market share.

For the rest of the year, trading is likely to remain tough, but Sainsbury’s management is delivering. Questor recommended a purchase below 300p when the shares were yielding about 5.5pc. They have recovered to trade on a multiple of 11.6 and a forward yield of 4.7pc. Hold.

Any particular reason for the advance this afternoon?
393 plus as I write.

Here's the reason: UBS has added the supermarket to its Global top 40 list.

Trading Statement

Second Quarter Trading Statement for the 16 weeks to 28 September 2013

Strong sales delivering continued outperformance

· Total sales for second quarter up 5.0 per cent (4.6 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for second quarter up 2.1 per cent (2.0 per cent excluding fuel)

· Total sales for the first half up 4.4 per cent (4.0 per cent excluding fuel) and like-for-like sales up 1.5 per cent (1.4 per cent excluding fuel)

Sainsbury's takes price comparison spat with Tesco to high court

LONDON | Wed Oct 30, 2013 5:40am GMT
(Reuters) - Supermarket J Sainsbury will take its spat over price comparisons with Tesco to Britain's high court, challenging a ruling by the advertising watchdog in favour of its rival.

Britain's supermarkets are battling intensely for market share in tough economic conditions. Advertising is a major battleground.

Interim Results

Financial summary(1)
· Total sales (inc VAT, inc fuel) up 4.4 per cent to £13,953 million (2012/13: £13,365 million)
· Total sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 4.0 per cent
· Like-for-like sales (inc VAT, ex fuel) up 1.4 per cent
· Underlying profit before tax(2) up 7.0 per cent to £400 million (2012/13: £374 million)
· Underlying basic earnings per share(3) up 9.2 per cent to 16.6 pence (2012/13: 15.2 pence)
· Return on capital employed(4) of 11.4 per cent (2012/13: 10.8 per cent)
· Return on capital employed excluding pension fund deficit(5) of 10.5 per cent (2012/13: 10.3 per cent)
· Interim dividend of 5.0 pence, up 4.2 per cent (2012/13: 4.8 pence)

Statutory
· Revenue (ex VAT, inc fuel) up 4.3 per cent to £12,684 million (2012/13: £12,160 million)
· Profit before tax up 9.1 per cent to £433 million (2012/13: £397 million)
· Basic earnings per share up 8.5 per cent to 17.9 pence (2012/13: 16.5 pence)

Operating performance
· Outperformed the market, increasing market share to 16.8 per cent(6), the highest for a decade, completing 35 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth
· Excellent customer service levels winning 15 out of 28 Grocer 33 Service and Availability awards
· Operational cost savings of around £55 million, on track for around £100 million for the full year
· Improved underlying operating margin by 7 bps to 3.47 per cent (up 6 bps at constant fuel prices)
· Supermarket of the Year (6th time in eight years) and Convenience Chain of the Year (4th consecutive year), Retail Industry Awards. Online Retailer of the Year (2nd consecutive year), Grocer Gold Awards
· FTSE 100 Business of the Year, National Business Awards
· Defined benefit pension fund triennial valuation complete resulting in funding deficit of £592 million, a £635 million improvement on the 2009 valuation. Recovery plan agreed in 2009 remains unchanged

Strategy
· Great Food:Own-brand growing at over twice the rate of branded goods, by Sainsbury's re-launched and Taste the Difference showing double-digit growth. Achieved 100 per cent British fresh pork, to complement our existing 100 per cent British fresh chicken and 100 per cent British or Irish fresh beef
· Compelling General Merchandise and Clothing: Strong growth at around twice the rate of food sales. Successfully re-launched Tu clothing brand and extended by Sainsbury's brand into general merchandise
· Complementary Channels and Services: Groceries online growing at over 15 per cent, with over £1 billion in annualised sales and orders regularly exceeding 180,000 a week. Plans announced for an online fulfilment centre at Bromley-by-Bow. Convenience growing at over 20 per cent, opening around two new stores each week. Sainsbury's Bank remains on track to move to full ownership by the end of January 2014
· Developing New Business: Launched Mobile by Sainsbury's and opened fourth hospital out-patient pharmacy
· Growing Space and Creating Property Value: Opened 393,000 sq ft of space over the half-year, comprising six supermarkets, 50 convenience stores and two extensions. Property profits were £18 million. Property value up £0.3 billion from March 2013 to £11.8 billion. Following a review of our property pipeline we have identified some sites where we no longer wish to build a supermarket, resulting in a £92 million impairment within one-off items

Sainsbury Market Share Slips for First Time Since January

LONDON--J. Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN), the U.K.'s third largest supermarket chain, saw its market share fall for the first time since January, as discount retailer Aldi's rise continues unabated with almost a third of British households shopping in its stores over the past 12 weeks.

"The number of shoppers visiting Aldi has grown by 16% year-on-year at the same time as the average basket size has swelled by nearly 15%," said Edward Garner at Kantar Worldpanel, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K. "In fact, almost a third of British households have shopped in Aldi in the past 12 weeks," he added.

Trading Update Tomorrow.

Barclays Capital Overweight 362.55 440.00 440.00 Reiterates
Bank of America Merrill Lynch Underperform 362.55 430.00 350.00 Downgrades
HSBC Neutral 362.55 415.00 415.00 Reiterates
Morgan Stanley Overweight 362.55 415.00 415.00 Retains
Deutsche Bank Hold 362.55 410.00 410.00 Reiterates

Trading Statement

Third Quarter Trading Statement for the 14 weeks to 4 January 2014

Good sales performance in a tough market

· Total sales for third quarter up 2.5 per cent (2.7 per cent excluding fuel)

· Like-for-like sales for third quarter flat (0.2 per cent excluding fuel)

· 28 million customer transactions in the seven day run up to Christmas

· Strong sales growth in Taste the Difference over the Christmas period

Barclays Capital Overweight 361.15 440.00 440.00 Reiterates

Directorate Change

Sainsbury's announces Justin King to step down;
Mike Coupe appointed CEO from 9 July 2014

Sainsbury's today announces that Justin King has decided to step down in July 2014 after 10 years as CEO, and that Mike Coupe, currently the Group Commercial Director, will succeed him as CEO.

David Tyler, Chairman said: "Justin is a truly exceptional leader, who has reshaped Sainsbury's during his 10 years as CEO, as well as playing a leading role in the sector and wider business world. The Board thanks him for his outstanding achievements in 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again'. He leaves a lasting legacy, with the Company stronger than ever.

"We are delighted to appoint a CEO of Mike's unique talent and experience as Justin's successor to lead the next chapter of Sainsbury's history. No one knows Sainsbury's - or the industry - better than Mike. He has worked hand-in-hand with Justin over the past decade and has a proven track record of success making him the natural choice to take the Company forward."

Justin King, CEO said: "This was not an easy decision for me to make, and in truth it will never feel like the right time to leave a company like Sainsbury's. It has been a privilege to have led the Company for the past 10 years and I am incredibly proud of our achievements in that time. It is the 157,000 colleagues that make Sainsbury's so special and I would like to thank them for their amazing efforts over the last decade in making Sainsbury's great again. I am confident that under Mike's leadership the business will go from strength to strength."

Mike Coupe, CEO designatesaid: "It's an absolute honour to be appointed as the new CEO of Sainsbury's in this, the Company's 145th year, and at a time when thanks to Justin's leadership, we have been consistently outperforming the market. I very much look forward to building on that success for our customers, colleagues, suppliers and shareholders."

Supermarkets generally weak today.
2517

Jefferies International Hold 307.90 410.00 350.00 Reiterates

Jumped on board today. SBRY is not MRW. Trading update next week should provoke a relief rally - I hope. In the meantime I've put a few in my ISA. Nice yield down at these levels.

Trading Statement

Fourth Quarter Trading Statement for 10 weeks to 15 March 2014

Declining sales in a tough market, continued outperformance of peers

· Total sales for fourth quarter down 1.5 per cent (down 1.0 per cent ex fuel)
· Like-for-like sales for fourth quarter down 3.8 per cent (down 3.1 per cent ex fuel)

Justin King, Chief Executive, said, "We have seen a decline in sales in the quarter reflecting tough comparatives. This time last year our sales benefited significantly from the discovery of horsemeat in some branded and competitors' products. We are pleased, however, that market data shows we have maintained market share at 17%1.

The market is now growing at its slowest rate since 2005, with falling food inflation in particular benefiting customers. The later timing of Easter and Mother's Day, which fall in quarter one of our new financial year, and unseasonable weather have also contributed to lower market growth year-on-year.

We continue to see growth in our own-brand ranges, significantly ahead of branded products, with penetration now at 51 per cent, versus 47 per cent for the market2. Our own-brand products are, on average, 20 per cent cheaper than a branded equivalent and are also supported by the values that our customers expect of us. We recently lowered the price of our milk, bread and eggs, but continue to pay a fair price to farmers through our Dairy Development Group, and only use British flour in our in-store bakeries and eggs from hens that are free to roam. Customers continue to tell us they recognise the uniqueness and value for money of our own-brand ranges.

Our general merchandise and clothing business continues to perform well, with particularly strong growth in menswear of over 23 per cent year-on-year. During the quarter we announced the renewal of our collaboration with the designer Gok Wan for a further 12 collections, and also released our eleventh collection of his ladieswear. Following successful trials, we have introduced our new general merchandise and clothing format into 53 stores, with a further 26 planned for the first quarter of the next financial year.

During the quarter we announced the completion of the acquisition of Lloyds Banking Group's share of Sainsbury's Bank, and are on track to complete the transition process as planned. We expect the Bank to become an increasingly important part of the value that customers receive from Sainsbury's, and another driver of customer loyalty.

Growth in our convenience business remains strong at over 15 per cent, and for the first time, during the quarter we saw one million transactions in a day. As well as opening around two new stores per week, we are part way through a programme to refit produce equipment in existing stores, responding to customer demand for more fresh food. Our groceries online business is growing at six per cent year-on-year, reflecting a reduction in marketing while the new customer website is launched. This roll-out is now 80 per cent complete and is due to finish in April.

Store operational standards and in-store execution remain high, as demonstrated by 21 wins over the financial year in the Grocer 33 award, with record high levels of availability.

We have opened approximately one million square feet of new space over the year, in line with our plans, including 22 convenience stores during the quarter. This brings a total for the year of 13 new supermarkets, 91 convenience stores and six extensions. We have also refurbished a further 54 stores.
Although some economic indicators are showing an improvement in the health of the economy, we expect the outlook for customers to continue to be challenging for the coming year. We remain confident that our differentiated offer, supported by 'value for values', Nectar data and Brand Match, will allow us to outperform our peers in the year ahead."