Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts said the supermarket exited last year with “one of the strongest value positions we’ve had in a very long period of time,” as it “intends to make sure we maintain that”.

The boss of the grocery retailer, which hailed its “biggest ever Christmas” today (10 January), saw third quarter sales growth of 3.7% and grocery sales growth of 4.1%.

He said that its positive value position this year came off the back of a “strong Christmas”, noting that “five Christmas’ in a row we’ve taken volume and market share.”

“What we’re seeing in terms of the food customer is very value driven and more promotional driven, and that’s where Nectar Prices is playing such an important role for us,” Roberts explained.

It comes as the grocer’s overall sales rose by 3.7% year on year in the 16 weeks to 4 January, while sales increased by 3.8% during the six-week Christmas period.

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2024 marked Sainsbury’s second festive period with Nectar Prices, which it said delivered “outstanding value for customers,” according to the retailer, and saw more than one million people participating in its annual Count up to Christmas campaign.

However, Roberts noted that changes announced in the October Budget, including to Employers’ National Insurance contributions, which will see £140m extra piled onto its bill, “will bring inflationary pressures”.

“Of course, we’re going to do everything we can to mitigate the impact, but there’s no doubt there’s a lot of inflation building in the system, inflation is rising faster in fresh food than elsewhere.”

He also noted that this, “alongside the changes to regulatory taxes, with the Extended Producer Responsibility, the potential for actually higher business rates just at the point we were all expecting business rates to be fundamentally reformed,” means that “the focus on efficiency and productivity has never been more important”.

Roberts confirmed: “We’re starting from a very strong position compared to where we’ve been before and that’s why more and more customers are shopping with us.”