J Sainsbury's first-half results provided further evidence of the turmoil in the supermarket sector, with another drop in like-for-like sales and a 6.3% decline in underlying profits in its first half. It warned that profitability is set to fall in the second half, while its final dividend is likely to be lower than last year's.
What's more, sales from supermarkets open at least a year will be "negative for the next few years". Sainsbury's has scaled back plans for new stores and aims to cut costs by £500m over the next three years. That will pay for the £150m of price cuts it is introducing over the next year to fend off the German discounters Aldi and Lidl.
What the commentators said
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