Sainsbury’s and JD Sports add to the High Street cheer

Two of the UK’s largest retailers posted huge festive sales amid growing signs that shoppers are emerging from the economic gloom and continuing to spend over the Christmas period.

Sainsbury’s posted record earnings in the six weeks to January 7.

And JD Sports said sales in the last six weeks of 2022 were more than a fifth higher than a year earlier when tracksuits and trainers flew off the shelves.

The pair became the latest High Street giant to suggest a feared festive carnage for retailers had been averted.

Last week, Next defied expectations by revealing bumper sales. A range of companies including Boots, Greggs and B&M Bargains have also provided bullish numbers and a report from the British Retail Consortium showed that households were ‘braving the cold snap and strikes’ to buy presents.

Shore Capital analyst Clive Black said Christmas “has arrived” and was better than feared. He said: “We had consumer confidence at an all-time low.

“But people hadn’t seen each other in three years and wanted a good time.”

Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second largest grocer, said profit for the year to April would come in at the high end of its forecast of £630m to £690m.

Boss Simon Roberts said it made for the ‘best Christmas possible’. The 51-year-old said some cash-strapped people were looking for bargains, taking advantage of Black Friday and other seasonal offers.

Sainsbury’s, which also owns Argos and Habitat, said general merchandise sales rose 7.4 percent over the Christmas period.

Roberts said Argos was lifted by strong sales of energy-efficient products such as air fryers.

He said: ‘We preferred to keep our prices low and give customers great value for money. Customers shopped early, bought Christmas treats and bubbles more than once and looked for deals.”

But he warned that money will be “exceptionally tight” this year and vowed to continue to “fight” against inflation. Finance chief Kevin O’Byrne said good news came in as he expects price increases to ease. Shares fell 1.6 percent, or 3.9 pence, to 241.9 pence.

JD Sports also raised its profit forecast for the year to the end of January, saying it will sit at the high end of market expectations – between £933m and £985m.

Sales in the six weeks to December 31 were up more than 20 percent from a year earlier.

The chain, which has 414 stores in the UK and 3,400 stores worldwide, said some stores had record sales and the week leading up to Christmas Eve was its busiest on record.

The best seller was Nike’s Air Force 1 trainers, with 600,000 units sold in the UK in the last three months. Boss Regis Schultz said Christmas had been “phenomenal.”

He said, “Many of our stores and websites achieved record sales, and JD’s market-leading product and shopping experience captured the imagination of customers worldwide.”

Shares rose 7 percent, or 9.85 pence, to 150.75 pence.