AGM Statement

Sainsbury(J) PLC
11 July 2007



11 July 2007



J Sainsbury plc 2007 AGM Statement


In his opening remarks today at Sainsbury's AGM, Philip Hampton, chairman, will
announce the appointment of Mary Harris as a new non-executive director and Mike
Coupe as a new executive director (1).  Mary Harris and Mike Coupe join the
Board on 1 August 2007.  Mary Harris is currently a non-executive director of
TNT NV and has held previous executive roles at McKinsey and PepsiCo.  Mike
Coupe has been Sainsbury's trading director and has been on the operating board
since 2004.  He has over 20 years of retail experience including positions at
Tesco, Asda and Iceland.

Commenting on the results for 2006/07 Philip will say, 'I am delighted to say
that we have delivered another strong performance and our recovery is ahead of
plan.  Since March 2005, we have grown sales by an additional £1.8 billion with
over £1 billion delivered in the last financial year.  This means that we are
ahead of our target to grow sales by £2.5 billion by March 2008.  It is
especially pleasing that this strong sales performance is increasingly reflected
in improved profits.  Our underlying profit before tax for the year was £380
million, an increase of 42.3 per cent on the previous year.

'As our performance continues to improve we are recommending increasing the
final dividend by 25.6 per cent to 7.35 pence per share.  This will take the
full year dividend to 9.75 pence per share, an increase of 21.9 per cent
compared to last year.  In line with our previously stated objective the
dividend is covered 1.5 times by underlying earnings.  Going forward we expect
dividend cover to be in the range of 1.5 times and 1.75 times.'

Justin King, chief executive, will present the operational and financial results
for 2006/07, and present the new targets that the management team will work to
deliver over the next three years.  In his presentation to shareholders he will
say, 'Our vision is simple; we are here to serve customers well with a choice of
great products at fair prices and by so doing, to provide shareholders with
strong, sustainable financial returns.  This has driven everything we have done
since we outlined our Making Sainsbury's Great Again ('MSGA') recovery plan in
October 2004.

'Over the year we grew like-for-like sales excluding fuel by 5.9 per cent
delivering our ninth consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales growth in the
fourth quarter of the year.  This result represented growth on growth on growth
and demonstrated continued improvement and momentum.  We have already announced
our quarter one results for 2007/08 demonstrating this momentum has been
maintained.

'We have recently announced new three-year targets which build on the strong
progress we've made to date and move us from recovery to sustainable growth.
The new three-year targets overlap the final year of our MSGA recovery plan and
run until March 2010.  Our focus on driving sales continues with a target to
deliver £3.5 billion of additional sales growth between March 2007 and March
2010, split two-thirds from grocery and one-third from non-food.

'Our current store estate provides substantial development opportunities and we
intend to extend a further 75 stores by March 2010.  We're also actively seeking
and developing a pipeline of new stores. Our target is to grow space by ten per
cent over the next three years, which will be split equally across grocery and
non-food ranges.  This goal enables us to continue to develop a great food offer
while also growing total space for non-food ranges.'

In closing the AGM, Philip will thank shareholders for their continued support.


Enquiries:

Investor Relations                                 Media
Elliot Jordan    [phone]              Pip Wood [phone]


Notes
     
1.   Refer to separate release dated 11 July 2007.

2.   The AGM will take place at 11:00am on 11 July 2007 at The QEII Conference 
     Centre, Broad Sanctuary, Westminster, London SW1P 3EE.



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