- Sainsbury Q1 24 – 04/07 – despite posting a solid set of full year results in April the Sainsbury share price fell back before edging up to 14-month highs in May. Since those May peaks the shares have slipped back, with the March lows the next key area of support. Underlying full year profit before tax came in at £690m right at the top end of its guidance, down 5% from the previous year on revenues that were 5.3% higher at £31.49bn. Profits after tax saw a larger fall of 69% to £207m, but these are still 15% above pre-Covid levels. Cost of sales was 7% higher at £29.4bn, up from £27.5bn a year ago, pushing back against political accusations that supermarkets are profiting from the cost-of-living crisis. The main areas of outperformance were in grocery which saw annual sales rise 3%, and fuel which saw a rise of 23.4%. Clothing and GM was more of a drag declining 3% year on year. For 2024 Sainsbury says it expects to repeat and possibly exceed underlying profit before tax target of this year, guiding between £640m and £700m. The board proposed a final dividend of 9.2p per share. The recent Kantar survey showed grocery price inflation eased slightly in June; however, it will be small comfort to consumers given it is still an eye-wateringly high 16.5%, with eggs and frozen potatoes showing the biggest increases. Kantar went on to say that the biggest winners in terms of sales growth were Aldi and Lidl. Tesco and Sainsbury maintained their position as UK's number one and two supermarkets by market share. Tesco Q1 results have given us a decent indication of the challenges facing the sector even as grocery price inflation has been showing signs of slowing.
- Levi Strauss Q2 23 – 06/07 - when Levi Strauss reported back in April the shares fell sharply, eventually sliding to levels last seen in September 2020, before finding a base in May. The reason for the sell-off was due to caution over its Q2 outlook. For Q1 the company posted a 6% rise in revenue to $1.69bn and profits of $115m or $0.29c a share. All in all, the numbers beat expectations however there was some disappointment that the company left its full-year guidance unchanged, which was for annual revenue of between $6.3bn to $6.4bn. For Q2, revenues are expected to come in at a fairly lacklustre $1.34bn, before picking up in Q3 to $1.6bn. Investors will be hoping that this doesn't change, while profits for Q2 are expected to slow to $0.03c a share.
