Sainsbury's, Britain's second-biggest supermarket group, kept its financial guidance for this year despite reporting a 8% fall in first-half profit, saying it was well placed for the key Christmas trading period.
The group has a 14.7% share of Britain's grocery market.
It said today it still expected 2022-23 underlying pre-tax profit of between £630-690m, down from the £730m made in 2021-22.
Before today's update analysts were on average forecasting profits of £637m.
Amid a worsening cost of living crisis, Sainsbury's said trading momentum had remained strong in the first few weeks of its second half and it had continued to make gains in market share volumes.
"We are well placed through the peak trading period and into next financial year to support customers as they manage further cost of living pressures," it said.
"We are confident in our competitive position in the face of macro challenges and operating cost inflation," it added.
Sainsbury's reported underlying pre-tax profit of £340m for the 28 weeks to September 17.
Second-quarter like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 3.7%, having fallen by 4% in the first quarter.
