Sainsbury's profits jump 6% as market share grows

Supermarket chain Sainsbury's on Wednesday announced a 6.0-percent rise in interim net profits, as its share of Britain's grocery market hit the highest level in almost a decade. Sainsbury's said profit after tax hit £320 million for the 28 weeks to September 29 compared with net profit of £302 million during the first half of its 2011/12 financial year. Sales rose 4.0 percent to £13.36 billion pounds during the company's first half. "Sainsbury's has made a strong start to the year, delivering continued outperformance in what has remained a challenging market," chairman David Tyler said in the company's earnings statement. Chief executive Justin King added that Sainsbury's "share of the grocery market is the highest for almost a decade at 16.7 percent, with 31 consecutive quarters of like-for-like sales growth." Sainsbury's is the third-biggest supermarket chain in Britain after Walmart-owned Asda and the country's biggest retailer Tesco.