Sainsbury 1st Half Adjusted Profit Declines, Cuts Dividend

By Tapan Panchal

LONDON--J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) Wednesday reported a rise in first-half pretax profit, but a 10% drop on an adjusted basis, and said that it will reduce its dividend payment for the period.

For the 28 weeks to Sept. 24, the grocer recorded pretax profit of 372 million pounds ($461.15 million), compared with GBP339 million in the same period a year earlier, on revenue of GBP12.64 billion and GBP12.42 billion, respectively.

Profit, before tax and exceptional items, for the half-year totaled GBP277 million compared with GBP308 million a year earlier.

The U.K.'s second-biggest supermarket by market share said second half adjusted profit, excluding the impact of the acquisition of Argos, will be lower than that achieved in the first half due to continued price investment and a step up in cost inflation. Overall, it expects group full year adjusted profit to be in line with current market consensus.

The U.K.-listed company has declared an interim dividend of 3.6 pence per share compared with 4.0 pence paid a year ago.

Write to Tapan Panchal at tapan.panchal@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 09, 2016 02:43 ET (07:43 GMT)

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