Sales boost for takeover target Sainsbury's

Takeover target Sainsbury’s today hailed higher than expected sales figures driven by a strong performance from new stores and higher grocery prices.

Sainsbury’s said like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, for the 12 weeks to March 24 were up 5.9%, ahead of analyst predictions of between 5% and 5.5%.

But the update from the UK’s third largest supermarket chain comes under the shadow of a potential bid for the household name from a consortium of private equity firms and reported interest from rival chain Asda.

The team of CVC Capital, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Blackstone Group and TPG Capital first announced it was looking into the possibility of a bid at the beginning of February.

The consortium has until April 13 to make a firm offer.

Asda, which is owned by US giant Wal-Mart, has also been linked with a bid.