Good food
for all of us
Welcome to our Annual Report and Financial Statements 2026. You can download an interactive PDF of the report and financials below.
Good food
Our year in review
Chief Executive Simon Roberts and members of our team reflect on the strategic progress we have made in 2025/26, consistently delivering for all our stakeholders as we take Sainsbury’s to the Next Level.
Chair's letter
"A thriving Sainsbury’s is good for the UK – for the customers and communities we serve every day and for the shareholders who rely on us for sustainable long-term value."
Martin Scicluna, Chair
Chair's letter
Creating long-term value for the UK
Sainsbury’s plays an important role in the UK. Every week, millions of customers choose us for good food at great prices. Thousands of suppliers work with us as trusted, long-term partners and around 140,000 colleagues build their careers with us. When Sainsbury’s is thriving, the impact is felt well beyond our stores, in communities across the country.
Over the past year, customers have continued to make careful choices, with value firmly front of mind. Against this backdrop, our priorities remain clear: supporting colleagues, staying close to what customers are telling us and delivering great value on the products they buy most often, while making balanced choices that protect the long-term strength of our business.
Making balanced choices
Through disciplined execution, a sharper focus on value and a stronger financial position, we have built a business that is more focused and better placed to serve customers and communities across the UK over the long term.
Central to this progress is our focus on food, where we can have the greatest impact. By prioritising value, quality, availability and service and investing carefully where it matters most, we are better able to support our customers today while continuing to strengthen the business for the long term. By making balanced choices, we have strengthened Sainsbury’s position as a stable and trusted UK plc.
Delivering with purpose
We are committed to delivering for everyone who relies on us. Over the past year, this has meant prioritising value for customers, continuing to invest in colleagues and working in partnership with suppliers to strengthen our food supply chain.
Our purpose – making good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone, every day – shapes the choices we make. Through ourPlan for Better, we support healthier and more sustainable diets, while engaging constructively with government on issues such as affordability, supply chain resilience and regulatory reform.
Long-term partnerships are essential in our food supply chain. I recently visited a farm growing salad crops where the challenges facing British agriculture were clear. I came away with a strong sense that resilience increasingly depends on farmers having the confidence – and the capability – to plan and invest for the long term. Extreme weather is increasing complexity but long-term agreements give farmers the confidence to invest in solutions such as water storage and irrigation – a practical example of how Sainsbury’s is supporting the future of UK food production.
Creating sustainable returns for shareholders
We are committed to creating long-term value for shareholders. This year, we returned over £800 million to shareholders through a progressive dividend, a £250 million share buyback and a special dividend from the disposal of our banking operations. This transaction marked the conclusion of Sainsbury’s ownership of the Bank’s Core Banking business. I would like to thank Bláthnaid Bergin, Robert Mulhall and their teams for making this happen.
Looking ahead, we are focused on serving customers’ evolving financial services needs through a simpler proposition, building on the strength of our customer relationships while keeping our core emphasis firmly on food retail. This focus allows us to keep investing in value, quality, availability and service for customers, alongside investment in colleagues, stores and technology.
Looking ahead with confidence
I would like to thank colleagues across Sainsbury’s for the exceptional leadership and commitment they have shown this year. Whether serving customers in our stores, supporting our supply chains or driving progress behind the scenes, your contribution is fundamental to the strength of our business.
I am also grateful to Simon and the Operating Board for their leadership and I am pleased to acknowledge Simon’s CBE in the 2026 New Year Honours, recognising his outstanding contribution to retail and our business. Under his leadership, colleagues, customers and shareholders can have confidence in Sainsbury’s ability to make the right long-term choices.
We welcomed Katie Bickerstaffe and Steve Hare to the Board following their appointments at the 2025 AGM. They have brought valuable experience and perspective. I would also like to acknowledge Adrian Hennah in his first year as Senior Independent Director and the counsel he continues to offer.
A thriving Sainsbury’s is good for the UK - for the customers and communities we serve every day and for the shareholders who rely on us for sustainable long-term value. With a clear strategy, disciplined execution and a continued focus on value, quality, availability and service, Sainsbury’s is well placed to navigate an increasingly uncertain external environment in the years ahead.
Martin Scicluna
Chair
22 April 2026
Chief Executive’s letter
"We have a strong plan powered by a clear purpose. Good food guides everything we do and we will keep using our scale, our reach and our capabilities to make good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone, every day."
Simon Roberts, Chief Executive
Chief Executive’s letter
Putting good food at the heart of all we do
This last year, every conversation with our customers, colleagues, farmers and suppliers has reinforced just how much people are weighing up every decision they make. Against a backdrop of increasing pressure on the cost of living and changing shopping habits, it’s a constant reminder that we must do everything we possibly can to earn people’s trust and loyalty.
We are focused on making sure our food is great value, high quality and sourced in partnership with farmers and producers. As global uncertainty around us continues, this must remain our absolute priority.
For 157 years, Sainsbury’s has worked in partnership across our supply chain to make good food joyful, accessible and affordable for everyone, every day. It’s a responsibility we take seriously and one that I believe will continue to set us apart.
By staying true to this purpose and focusing relentlessly on what matters most to our customers, we’ve delivered strong results over the last year. We grew food volumes, gained market share and performed well in a highly competitive market. We have also delivered enhanced cash returns to shareholders through dividends and share buybacks.
Value customers rely on
When I became Chief Executive five years ago, customers told us we were too expensive and too often we were inconsistent. We really listened and set out a clear plan to put food first and at the heart of everything we do at Sainsbury’s. We committed to deliver outstanding value without compromising on the quality and service customers always expect from us.
Since then, we’ve invested around £1.3 billion bringing prices down for customers while continuing to deliver leading quality, welfare and sustainability. With household budgets remaining under pressure, we’ve kept great value very firmly at the centre of our strategy. That’s why more customers are choosing products from Aldi Price Match alongside Taste the Difference in their weekly shop – confident they’re getting great value on everyday essentials and quality food for special occasions.
This year we took Nectar loyalty to the next level, rolling out Your Nectar Prices across all supermarket checkouts, giving more customers access to personalised savings wherever and however they shop, while continuing to invest in Aldi Price Match on the products they buy most often. Together, Nectar Prices and Your Nectar Prices now help millions of households save around £450 a year.
Food that’s affordable, accessible and joyful
We want to inspire more people to enjoy cooking and eating good food. This means adding more fibre and flavour to everyday favourites and celebrating fresh, seasonal cooking that is always tasty, exciting and accessible. Alongside this, I am proud to say that we continue to lead on transparency, supporting clearer food standards and mandatory reporting, so that customers can make confident, informed decisions for themselves and their families.
Supporting thousands of communities right across the country is at the core of who we are. Through our partnership with Comic Relief, we’ve provided more than 60 million meals since 2022. I’ve seen first-hand how much this matters, including recently at a local food club in South London where volunteers told me that reliable, long-term support makes the biggest difference. No child or family should go without the essentials they need to thrive and we’re committed to playing our part in reducing food poverty across the UK. This year we have donated £8.7 million through the partnership with Comic Relief and through Alliance Food Sourcing we’re working with the retail industry to find new ways to rescue surplus food in supply chains and ensure it reaches those that most need it.
Farming in partnership
We believe food resilience matters more now than ever and that’s why our long-term partnerships with farmers and suppliers are so vital, securing good food for the future and building a more sustainable UK food system. This important work starts with understanding the real challenges our farming partners face. Successive periods of volatility in an already tough market are making it harder for farmers to plan, invest and innovate with confidence.
This March, we announced that we’re further expanding our long-term partnership model, to create one of the UK’s most extensive networks of multi-year farming agreements. More than 2,500 British and Irish farms will be backed by long-term contracts of between five and ten years, giving farmers real confidence in what we will buy from them and the profit they can expect to make, with a long-term commitment to work together. This represents over £5 billion of committed investment over the lifespan of these agreements and will secure 3.1 million tonnes of homegrown fresh food.
Jobs, skills and opportunity
With around 140,000 colleagues across the UK, we create opportunities in every community we serve. I regularly meet colleagues across Sainsbury’s and Argos who began their career in weekend roles and now lead teams. Starting work with a weekend job provides such a positive start to working life and we are committed to doing all we can to provide the best opportunities for young people, including through the relaunch of our graduate programme this year.
We continue to prioritise significant investment in colleague pay because it is the right thing to do, supporting the wellbeing and success of our people through competitive rates of pay and a strong benefits package. We have increased pay for our hourly paid colleagues by more than 40 per cent in the last five years and our market leading benefits include a competitive pension scheme, colleague share plans, free food during shifts and leading levels of colleague discount.
Looking ahead
We continue to deliver strong momentum and progress through our Next Level plan, building a Sainsbury’s that is better for today and well placed for the future. We’re doing this through continuing to invest in what matters most for our customers, championing good food by supporting our colleagues and working in partnership with farmers and suppliers. This disciplined approach allows us to make balanced choices, strengthening our business and creating long term, sustainable value for shareholders.
We are well placed to navigate the challenges of uncertain global events and the potential for volatility around us. We have a strong plan powered by a clear purpose and an experienced and capable leadership team energised and focused for the year ahead.
A huge thank you to our entire Sainsbury’s team for their hard work, commitment and care. It’s our team who make everything we achieve possible and it’s each and every one of our colleagues who make the difference, doing the right thing for our customers every time they shop with us.
Simon Roberts
Chief Executive
22 April 2026
Financial highlights
52 weeks to 28 February 2026
4.3%
Retail sales growth (exc. fuel, exc. VAT)
2024/25: 3.3%
£1,025m
Retail underlying operating profit
2024/25: £1,036m
£574m
Retail free cash flow
2024/25: £531m
22.3p
Underlying basic earnings per share
2024/25: 21.6p
£393m
Statutory profit after tax
2024/25: £253m
8.9%
Return on capital employed
2024/25: 9.0%
Financial review
We delivered a resilient operating profit performance despite significant cost inflation, whilst generating strong free cash flow and returning more than £800 million to shareholders
Read the full financial review| Summary income statement | 52 weeks to 28 February 2026 £m | 52 weeks to 1 March 2025 £m | Change % |
| Underlying Group sales (excluding VAT) | 33,647 | 32,772 | 2.7 |
| Underlying operating profit | |||
| Retail | 1,025 | 1,036 | (1.1) |
| Financial Services | - | (22) | 100.0 |
| Total underlying operating profit | 1,025 | 1,014 | 1.1 |
| Underlying net finance costs | (307) | (305) | (0.7) |
| Underlying profit before tax | 718 | 709 | 1.3 |
| Items excluded from underlying results | (99) | (102) | 2.9 |
| Profit before tax | 619 | 607 | 2.0 |
| Income tax expense | (205) | (186) | (10.2) |
| Profit after tax - continuing operations | 414 | 421 | (1.7) |
| Loss after tax - discontinued operations | (21) | (168) | 87.5 |
| Profit for the financial period | 393 | 253 | 55.3 |
| Underlying basic earning per share | 22.3p | 21.6p | 3.2 |
| Basic earnings per share | 17.3p | 10.9p | 58.7 |
| Interim dividend per share | 4.1p | 3.9p | 5.1 |
| Final dividend per share | 9.6p | 9.7p | (1.0) |
| Total dividend per share | 13.7p | 13.6p | 0.7 |
| Special dividend per share | 11.0p | - | - |
| 52 weeks to 28 February 2026 | 52 weeks to 1 March 2025 | Change | |
| Retail underlying EBITDA (£m) | 2,211 | 2,192 | 0.9% |
| Retail underlying EBITDA margin (excl. VAT) (%) | 6.59 | 6.72 | (13)bps |
| Retail underlying operating profit (£m) | 1,025 | 1,036 | (1.1)% |
| Retail underlying operating margin (excl. VAT) (%) | 3.06 | 3.17 | (11)bps |
| Summary Retail cash flow statement | 52 weeks to 28 February 2026 £m | 52 weeks to 1 March 2025 £m |
| Retail underlying operating profit | 1,025 | 1,036 |
| Adjustments for: | ||
| Retail underlying depreciation and amortisation | 1,186 | 1,156 |
| Share-based payments and other | 81 | 67 |
| Adjusted Retail underlying operating cash flow before changes in working capital | 2,292 | 2,259 |
| Decrease in underlying working capital | 128 | 98 |
| Retail non-underlying operating cash flows (excluding pensions) | (80) | (71) |
| Pension cash contributions | (27) | (45) |
| Retail cash generated from operations | 2,313 | 2,241 |
| Interest paid | (336) | (347) |
| Corporation tax paid | (112) | (89) |
| Retail net cash generated from operating activities | 1,865 | 1,805 |
| Cash capital expenditure | (843) | (825) |
| Repayments of lease liabilities | (504) | (487) |
| Initial direct costs on right-of-use assets | (8) | (34) |
| Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment | 41 | 45 |
| Interest income | 23 | 27 |
| Retail free cash flow | 574 | 531 |
| Dividends paid on ordinary shares | (316) | (308) |
| Special dividend paid | (250) | — |
| Purchase of own shares – share buyback | (251) | (200) |
| Net repayment of borrowings | (59) | (79) |
| Other share-related transactions | (37) | (43) |
| Dividend received from Sainsbury’s Bank | 400 | — |
| Financial Services strategic review | (59) | (52) |
| Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents | 2 | (151) |
| Decrease in debt | 563 | 566 |
| Other non-cash and net interest movements | (550) | (619) |
| Movement in net debt | 15 | (204) |
| Opening net debt | (5,758) | (5,554) |
| Closing net debt | (5,743) | (5,758) |
| Of which: | ||
| Lease liabilities | (5,540) | (5,494) |
| Net debt excluding lease liabilities | (203) | (264) |
| Key financial ratios | As at 28 February 2026 | As at 1 March 2025 |
| Return on capital employed | 8.9% | 9.0% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 2.6x | 2.6x |
| Fixed charge cover | 2.7x | 2.8x |
Strategy overview
Reflecting on our progress two years into our Next Level Sainsbury's strategy, we’ve invested to support our customers, our colleagues, our farmers and our suppliers and we have sustained our strong competitive position in an intensely competitive market. More customers are trusting us to deliver our winning combination of value, quality, availability and service. As a result, we have delivered food volume growth ahead of the market for the sixth consecutive year, reaching our highest volume market share in ten years.
Strategic highlights
c.£1.3bn
invested in keeping prices low over the past five years
40+
new stores opened in 2025/26 to bring the best of Sainsbury's to more people
1,200
new own brand products in 2025/26, c.50% in premium Taste the Difference range
£5bn+
committed investment in British and Irish agriculture
£8.7m
donated through Comic Relief to reduce food poverty across UK in 2025/26
c.£800m
investment in colleague pay since 2021, c.40% increase
Our eight commitments
Across the business, we are focused on delivering the eight commitments we made at the launch of Next Level Sainsbury's. We update our progress against these commitments each year, represented by the red, amber or green ‘traffic lights’. The ratings shown are based on our progress during the 2025/26 financial year.
Food volume growth ahead of the market
Customer satisfaction higher 2026/27 than 2023/24
Colleague engagement higher 2026/27 than 2023/24
Deliver our Plan for Better commitments
Deliver profit leverage from sales growth
£1 billion cost savings over three years to 2026/27
£1.6 billion+ retail free cash flow over the three years to 2026/27
Higher return on capital employed
- Our purpose in action
Supporting UK farming
We have renewed our commitment to long-term partnerships with British and Irish farmers, expanding our model to create one of the UK’s most extensive networks of multi-year farming agreements. By 2027, more than 2,500 farms will be backed by these contracts, representing over £5 billion of committed investment over the lifespan of these agreements and securing 3.1 million tonnes of homegrown fresh food.
Long-term partnerships are key to delivering good food at great value. We’re giving farmers greater certainty over what we’ll buy, at what price and for how long and we are providing them with the with the reassurance and confidence they need to invest in the future. This helps us to strengthen the supply of good food for generations to come.
Collectively, we are driving positive change across the food system, tackling climate, nature and labour challenges and raising animal welfare standards.
- Our purpose in action
Helping our customers find the joy of good food
We want to inspire people to enjoy cooking and eating good food by making it easy, affordable and delicious. That’s why we have long-supported efforts to help customers eat well, making nutritious food tastier, simpler and easier for everyone. From leading the way with traffic light labelling on product packs to rewarding healthy choices through Nectar challenges, we have a long heritage of helping customers to eat well. But we know this remains a challenge, with stretched budgets, busy lives and conflicting advice all getting in the way.
As part of our continued focus on food innovation, each year we launch new products created in collaboration with our expert nutritionists, ensuring they deliver the essentials our diets need without compromising on taste or convenience.
This year we launched our Small But Mighty range, offering nutrient dense meals designed to be less than 400 kcals, high in protein, a source of fibre and one of your five a day. Alongside this we’re launching a selection of High Protein products, including yoghurts, bread and ready meals.
- Our purpose in action
Tackling food poverty in partnership
No child or family should go hungry. We are focused on helping families access the good food they need – today and for the long term.
Partnering with the Department for Education on their free breakfast club programme in October, we supported up to 180,000 school children across the UK. The initiative provided 750 early adopter schools with access to £200 gift cards to help them take their free breakfast club offer further - increasing their funding for healthy, affordable and nutritious food. We also committed to supporting over 570 additional schools from April 2026 onwards.
For over 25 years, our partnership with Comic Relief has helped families facing impossible choices. In 2025/26 we donated £8.7 million to Comic Relief, helping deliver millions of meals and vital community support. And together we’re determined to go further to ensure all children and families have the food they need to thrive. Building on decades of partnership, we have launched a bold new ambition to raise £30 million for Comic Relief by 2030, doubling our impact to help us to reach a total of 120 million meals donated to children and families across the UK since 2022.
Plan for Better
For an update on our progress towards our sustainability targets, as well as information on our governance and other business practices, you can download our 2025/26 Plan for Better Report below. It includes leadership perspectives, key case studies and learnings, as well as our performance scorecard.
