Sainsbury’s sales dented by weak general merchandise and clothing demand

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Wed, 2019-07-03 23:33

LONDON: British supermarket group Sainsbury’s reported a third consecutive quarter of declining underlying sales, hurt by weak clothing and general merchandise markets.

The group, which had its £7.3 billion ($9.2 billion) takeover of rival Asda blocked by the UK competition regulator in April, said on Wednesday its like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, fell 1.6 percent in the 16 weeks to June 29, its fiscal first quarter.

The outcome compares with analysts’ forecasts in a range of down 1.1 percent to down 2 percent and a fall of 0.9 percent in the previous quarter.