London, July 4, 2026, 22:03 BST
- J Sainsbury plc LON:SBRY last traded at 335p on Friday, down 0.65%, with London shut for the weekend.
- The stock still rose 6.21% over the week, London Stock Exchange data showed, helped by Tuesday’s first-quarter update.
- The latest buyback disclosure showed 4.03 million shares bought from June 26 to July 2 at an average 319.7p, below Friday’s close.
The London Stock Exchange does not open at weekends, so the Friday close is the last live price for J Sainsbury plc LON:SBRY before Monday. The shares ended at 335p, down 2.20p on the day, but the week was still a sharp one: an LSE factsheet put the five-day gain at 6.21%.
The less covered number is in Friday’s buyback filing. Sainsbury bought 4,029,109 shares over the five trading days from June 26 to July 2. Based on the daily volumes and volume-weighted prices in the filing, the average price was 319.7p, about 4.6% below Friday’s close. The purchases cost about £12.9 million and equalled roughly 0.18% of the company’s 2.23 billion voting rights as of June 29.
| Latest disclosed buyback window | Figure |
|---|---|
| Shares bought, June 26-July 2 | 4,029,109 |
| Implied cash spent | £12.9 mln |
| Average buyback price | 319.7p |
| Friday close | 335.0p |
| Friday close vs average buyback price | +4.8% |
That matters because the buyback is doing some per-share work while the trading update gave investors a mixed sales bridge. Grocery did the lifting. Argos and Sainsbury’s general merchandise and clothing still dragged.
Sainsbury’s said first-quarter total retail sales excluding fuel rose 2.7% to £9.15 billion in the 16 weeks to June 20. Grocery sales rose 3.6% to £7.60 billion, while general merchandise and clothing fell 3.7% and Argos sales fell 0.5%. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose 2.1%.
| Q1 sales bridge | 2026/27 Q1 | 2025/26 Q1 | Change | YoY |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grocery | £7,603 mln | £7,342 mln | +£261 mln | +3.6% |
| General merchandise + clothing | £438 mln | £455 mln | -£17 mln | -3.7% |
| Argos | £1,114 mln | £1,120 mln | -£6 mln | -0.5% |
| Total retail, ex-fuel | £9,153 mln | £8,915 mln | +£238 mln | +2.7% |
Chief Executive Simon Roberts said in the company statement: “Customers are looking for value now more than ever.” Sainsbury also said it had kept what it called the biggest Aldi Price Match in the market and Nectar Prices on about 11,000 products. Sainsbury’s Corporate
Roberts told Reuters the early summer heat helped the current quarter: “Demand really hit record levels,” citing best-ever sales weeks for pizza, ice cream and berries. Sainsbury kept its 2026/27 forecast for total underlying operating profit of £975 million to £1.075 billion and retail free cash flow of more than £500 million. Reuters
The update was not all clean. Last year’s first quarter was a hard comparison, with Sainsbury then helped by favourable weather and cyberattack disruption at competitors Marks & Spencer Group plc LON:MKS and the Co-op. Reuters also noted that Tesco plc LON:TSCO had reported slower first-quarter like-for-like sales growth earlier in June.
Mark Crouch, market analyst for eToro, called Sainsbury’s update “solid rather than spectacular” and said the next leg higher for the shares would depend on the company proving it can grow earnings in a more uncertain consumer environment. The Times
| Friday market comparison | Close | Friday move |
|---|---|---|
| J Sainsbury plc LON:SBRY | 335.00p | -0.65% |
| Tesco plc LON:TSCO | 466.60p | -1.48% |
| Marks & Spencer Group plc LON:MKS | 383.00p | -0.80% |
| FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) | 10,679.03 | +0.25% |
Tesco’s Friday fall was steeper than Sainsbury’s, while the FTSE 100 (INDEXFTSE:UKX) rose 0.25% to 10,679.03. Sainsbury’s own share-price tool showed Tesco at 466.60p and Marks & Spencer at 383.00p on Friday.
For the week ahead, the dated cash item is the final dividend. Shareholders approved a 9.6p-a-share final dividend at Thursday’s annual meeting, and the company has said it will be paid on July 10 to holders on the register as of June 5. The £300 million buyback programme also remains in place, with the first £200 million tranche due to run no later than Sept. 11.
