Sainsbury's sales in the soup

SAINSBURY'S boss Sir Peter Davis will come under fire this week when he admits that the embattled supermarket chain has missed out on the bumper sales enjoyed by its rivals.

Some in the City expect Sainsbury's to reveal on Friday a 0.2% decline in same-store sales in the three months to September, compared with last year. This is well behind the 6.7% growth enjoyed by Tesco and the 9.8% seen at William Morrison.

Marks & Spencer, which unveils its second-quarter trading tomorrow, is also expected to outstrip Sainsbury's. M&S will say growth of as much as 5% in food sales in the second-quarter offset a possible 1.5% decline in general goods, caused by the summer heatwave.

Sainsbury's Sir Peter is expected to deflect criticism of his turnaround strategy by blaming the decline on the disruption caused by the overhaul of its outdated distribution and IT systems and the introduction of a new range of non-food items.