Sainsbury's sales up 5.9%

Takeover target Sainsbury’s posted higher than expected sales figures today as the supermarket chain reaped the benefits of increased revenues from Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day.

The UK’s third largest food retailer said like-for-like sales, excluding petrol, for the 12 weeks to March 24 were up 5.9%, ahead of analysts’ predictions of between 5% and 5.5%.