Sainsbury family steps in to avoid AGM defeat

SUPERMARKET chain Sainsbury’s looks set to avoid an embarrassing defeat at its annual general meeting tomorrow following the intervention of the Sainsbury family.

The group is facing an investor revolt over a £2.4 million share award it had planned to give its former chairman Peter Mr Davis.

The group has since withdrawn the award of 864,000 shares for 2003/2004, a year when annual profits fell by 2.9% to £675 million, after seeing a report on the firm by new chief executive Justin King.