J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury's, which is a chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. The J Sainsbury group also has interests in property and banking.
Sainsbury's was established in 1869 when John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann opened a store in Drury Lane in Holborn, London. Until 1973 the company was still wholly owned by the Sainsbury family, however it was then floated in what was at the time the largest ever flotation on the London Stock Exchange. Today the family retain approximately 30% of the shares.
In 1987 it took over US chain Shaw's Supermarkets. On 26 March 2004 it was announced that it was selling the chain to Albertsons Inc for $2.5 billion.
Sainsbury's was for decades the premier supermarket in the UK, it lost this position however in the mid 1990s to Tesco, further slipping to No.3 in mid 2003 behind Walmart-backed Asda. The supermarket chain has yet to recover from this, with profits and sales growth consistently below that of its main rivals.
The appointment of Sir Peter Davis as CEO in March 2000 was seen as an attempt to regain market position and if he is judged on that aim then he can be said to have failed. During his term Sainsbury's was demoted to third in the UK grocery market. However in his first two years he raised profits above targets and oversaw an almost £2Bn upgrade of stores,distribution and IT equipment.
J Sainsbury plc is the parent company of Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd, commonly known as Sainsbury's, which is a chain of