The bosses of Sainsbury’s have insisted that it is “not a rip-off retailer” after facing scrutiny over the grocery’s profits in relation to the steep food inflation.
The supermarket also defended higher pay packages awarded to its senior executives at its annual meeting in London on Thursday.
It comes two days after chief executive Simon Roberts said “food inflation is starting to fall”, and Sainsbury’s reported an 11% jump in grocery quarterly sales.
British supermarkets have come under scrutiny by the Competition and Markets Authority, which is currently investigating whether the grocery sector has been profiteering from high food inflation. Food inflation in May slipped to 18.4%.
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Speaking at the grocer’s AGM, chairman Martin Scicluna said: “To be very, very clear, we are not profiteering and we are not rip-off retailers.”
“We make 3p on every pound we sell. If we offered you something for £1, and I said I made 3p on that product, I don’t think you would call us a rip-off merchant or a profiteer, but some MPs have.”
He also defended the £4.95m pay packet awarded to Roberts last year – which included £3.96m in bonuses added to his £899,000 a year salary.
“What we are trying to do is focusing on rewards for Simon, the operating board, senior leadership and colleagues. That’s why our colleague pay has gone up 44% over the past four years,” Scicluna said.
“It is a lower fixed pay, around 19% of the total, but we incentivised Simon and the team with the bonus and LTIPs [long-term incentive payments] to make sure that we grow profits, because it is good for the company and means we can invest in innovation, technology and reward shareholders.”
