Loading…
UK's second-largest grocery retailer, operating supermarkets, Argos general-merchandise stores and Sainsbury's Bank.
UK's second-largest grocery retailer, operating supermarkets, Argos general-merchandise stores and Sainsbury's Bank.
Earns a thin margin on a large volume of groceries, with clothing, homeware and Argos catalogue goods adding higher-margin sales; it bought Argos in 2016 and has since moved many Argos counters into Sainsbury's supermarkets. It has been withdrawing from retail banking, agreeing in 2024 to sell its bank's core business to NatWest.
In one line: A UK grocery/general-merchandise combo, like a smaller Kroger plus a catalogue retailer.
Moat: narrow (scale, distribution, brand). Second-largest UK grocery scale and Argos's fast fulfilment network provide an edge, but grocery margins stay thin.
Headquarters: London, UK · Founded: 1869
Size J Sainsbury (SBRY.L) is a United Kingdom Consumer Staples company (Food Retail) with a market value of $10.4B, the 53rd largest of 363 United Kingdom companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at £354.70 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 16.4%, against +9.0% for the median peer and +3.6% for the United Kingdom market (cap-weighted) — 6th highest of 21 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue fell 2.6% over the last twelve months (peer median +3.3%); the operating margin is 2.7% (peer median 4.7%).
Valuation It trades at 14.9× forward earnings against a peer median of 18.5× (7th cheapest of 19).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 8% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +3%, so the hurdle is +5 pp: the price needs faster growth than the company has been delivering — of companies that just grew 25–50% a year, 93.8% slowed down over the next four years.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 3.4 points below its cost of capital (9.3% WACC).
Credit J Sainsbury has 2 bonds outstanding ($734M), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like A at a weighted spread of 97 bp.
Next results Next results expected around 22 Apr 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | £32.3B | £33.6B | £32.8B | £32.2B | £31.5B |
| Revenue growth | — | +3% | +2% | +2% | — |
| Gross profit | £1.97B | £2.07B | £2.08B | £1.99B | £2.32B |
| EBITDA | £2.03B | £2.12B | £2.07B | £1.96B | £2.21B |
| Net income | £372M | £384M | £359M | £148M | £207M |
| Free cash flow | £1.15B | -£623M | £1.36B | £894M | £1.87B |
| Capital expenditure | £744M | £843M | £825M | £1.56B | £738M |
| Total debt | n/a | £6.60B | £6.61B | £6.55B | £7.14B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Sainsbury SBRY.L | $10.4B | +16% | -3% | 3% | 14.9× | 7.8% |
| Tesco TSCO.L | $46.2B | +21% | +5% | 4% | 17.5× | 5.9% |
| Marks and Spencer MKS.L | $12.1B | +40% | +21% | 5% | 13.1× | 6.5% |
| Ocado OCDO.L | $3.73B | +77% | -42% | 3% | n/a | 39.1% |
| Currys CURY.L | $1.97B | +16% | +6% | 2% | 10.4× | 4.3% |
| B&M European Value Retail BME.L | $3.79B | +71% | +4% | 8% | 12.9× | -0.6% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | SBRY.L | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +6.7% | +5.5% | 9th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | +16.4% | +9.0% | 6th highest of 21 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -6.7% | -12.6% | 8th highest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | -2.6% | +3.3% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 2.7% | 4.7% | 4th lowest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 14.9× | 18.5× | 7th cheapest of 19 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 7.8% | 0.6% | 4th most demanding of 20 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +3.0% | +6.4% | 4th lowest of 20 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | +4.8 pp | -7.5 pp | 3rd most demanding of 20 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -3.4 pp | +3.6 pp | 3rd lowest of 20 |
| EV / EBITDA | 6.5× | 8.7× | 5th cheapest of 19 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 2.7× | 2.2× | 6th most indebted of 20 |
| Bond spread | 97 bp | 173 bp | tightest of 5 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| J Sainsbury SBRY.L | United Kingdom | $10.4B | +16% | -3% | 3% | 14.9× | 7.8% | +3.0% |
| BBB Foods TBBB | United States | $10.8B | +72% | +52% | 1% | n/a | 49.9% | +37.1% |
| Kesko KESKOA.HE | Finland | $11.3B | +23% | +6% | 5% | 20.6× | 4.8% | +3.2% |
| Dino Polska DNP.WA | Poland | $9.36B | +31% | +14% | 6% | 22.2× | 17.9% | +27.1% |
| MIXUE 2097.HK | Hong Kong | $8.80B | -37% | +35% | 20% | 11.5× | -18.5% | +32.1% |
| Uni-president Enterprises 1216.TW | Taiwan | $13.2B | +11% | +1% | 5% | 17.6× | 0.6% | +8.5% |
| Zabka ZAB.WA | Poland | $8.11B | +41% | +14% | 8% | 25.3× | 6.3% | +19.3% |
| Empire EMP-A.TO | Canada | $7.85B | +7% | +2% | 4% | 13.6× | -2.7% | +2.5% |
| Metro MRU.TO | Canada | $14.6B | +11% | +3% | 6% | 19.4× | -0.7% | +4.1% |
| Guming 1364.HK | Hong Kong | $7.08B | -4% | +47% | 25% | 14.8× | -4.1% | +29.4% |
| President Chain Store 2912.TW | Taiwan | $6.62B | -6% | +5% | 4% | 17.0× | 3.3% | +6.3% |
| Axfood AXFO.ST | Sweden | $6.26B | +4% | +2% | 3% | 24.3× | 3.2% | +10.7% |
| Albertsons Companies ACI | United States | $6.02B | -20% | +2% | 2% | 7.0× | -3.0% | +3.6% |
| Coles COL.AX | Australia | $21.0B | +7% | +3% | 4% | 24.4× | 5.5% | +3.3% |
| DFI Retail D01.SI | Singapore | $5.06B | -11% | -3% | 4% | 13.2× | -0.4% | -2.9% |
| Sprouts Farmers Market SFM | United States | $4.53B | -41% | +5% | 7% | 11.3× | -4.0% | +6.4% |
| Kobe Bussan 3038.T | Japan | $4.33B | +15% | +6% | 7% | 21.9× | -4.8% | +10.1% |
| Yonghui Superstores 601933.SS | China | $3.76B | -23% | -16% | -3% | 273.4× | n/a | n/a |
| Ocado OCDO.L | United Kingdom | $3.73B | +77% | -42% | 3% | n/a | 39.1% | -9.9% |
| George Weston WN.TO | Canada | $29.0B | +15% | +4% | 9% | 21.0× | -7.3% | +3.9% |
| Seven & I 3382.T | Japan | $31.7B | +16% | -11% | 4% | 17.4× | 4.0% | +12.6% |
J Sainsbury has 2 bonds outstanding with $734M face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like A. Weighted yield 5.88%, a spread of 97 bp over government bonds.