Change in IT resourcing

Sainsbury(J) PLC
27 October 2005


27 October 2005

J Sainsbury plc and Accenture announce change in IT resourcing

Sainsbury's and Accenture today announce that the IT services currently provided
by Accenture will be migrated back to Sainsbury's together with a number of
Accenture employees.

During the last five years, Accenture has been instrumental in improving the IT
capability of Sainsbury's business and delivered considerable improvements in
system stability and operational cost reductions through the re-platforming of
the vast majority of Sainsbury's IT systems.

As part of the Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan, Sainsbury's IT focus has
changed and it has decided that it is the right time to rebuild its expertise
back in-house.  Sainsbury's will treat all termination and / or transition costs
as an exceptional item in the year ending March 2006.  Further details will be
provided in due course.  Sainsbury's said that it expects that as a result of
future cost savings the exit costs are expected to payback in the short term.

Accenture said that it does not currently expect this change to have a material
impact on results from operations in fiscal year 2006.

Detailed plans are now being drawn up for the migration of the IT services and
future development needs from Accenture to Sainsbury's.  During this period all
Sainsbury's IT systems will remain fully operational and there will be no change
in the IT service provided.

Sainsbury's and Accenture's priority throughout the migration period will be to
ensure that customers and colleagues are unaffected by the change, particularly
through the Christmas and Easter trading periods.  Key IT development will
continue as planned.



Notes
     
1.   Sainsbury's originally outsourced IT operations to Accenture in November      
     2000.
     
2.   The relationship between Sainsbury's and Accenture covers the provision,
     development and ongoing support of all IT systems with the exception of 
     those operating within Sainsbury's automated distribution centres.

3.   The Making Sainsbury's Great Again plan was announced on 19 October 2004.
     
4.   Forward-Looking Statements

This news release contains forward-looking statements relating to Sainsbury's
and Accenture's operations and results of operations, the accuracy of which is
necessarily subject to risks and uncertainties.  Factors that could cause actual
results to differ materially from those expressed or implied include general
economic conditions and, in particular, in relation to Accenture the factors
discussed under the 'Risk Factors' heading in the Business section of
Accenture's most recent annual report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission.   Neither Sainsbury's nor Accenture undertake any duty to
update any forward-looking statements made in this news release or to conform
such statements to actual results or changes in their respective expectations.


Enquiries

Sainsbury's
Investor Relations                                          Media
Lynda Ashton                                                Pip Wood
[phone]                                        [phone]

Accenture
Stacey Jones  / Mark Radvanyi
[phone] / [phone]
[e-mail] / [e-mail]


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