Sainsbury's profits in line

published 9 May 2012

Underlying profit before tax from supermarket titan Sainsbury came in bang in line with expectations, while the full year dividend is a little more generous than anticipated.

Underlying profit before tax in the 15 weeks to March 17th was up 7.1% to £612m from £665m the year before, on total sales (including value added tax) that rose 6.8% to £24,511m from £22,943m a year earlier.

The full year dividend has been hiked by 6.6% to 16.1p, ahead of market expectations of 15.69p.