Sainsbury holds profit steady as Brexit pressures mount

London - UK supermarket chain J Sainsbury showed it’s coping with a Brexit-fueled squeeze on industry profitability as it reported annual profit that met analyst estimates.

Underlying pretax profit fell 1% to £581m in the 12 months ended March 11, the London-based company said in a statement on Wednesday. That compared with the £580m average estimate of nine analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. General merchandise chain Argos contributed £77m to that figure.

“Our food business remains resilient in a challenging market and we continue to innovate in quality and to invest in price,” chief executive officer Mike Coupe said in the statement.

Sainsbury’s profit will reassure investors that the company is holding its own in a market where sterling’s drop after last year’s vote to leave the European Union has put a squeeze on profitability.

UK grocers are seeking to balance passing on some of their increased import costs in the form of higher prices without sending shoppers flocking to discounters Aldi and Lidl.

Sainsbury said the impact of the pressure on its costs remains uncertain. The company proposed a final dividend of 6.6 pence, missing Bloomberg’s forecast of 7.3 pence a share.

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