Trading Statement

Sainsbury(J) PLC
14 January 2002


      J Sainsbury plc. - Strong Third Quarter Trading and Record Christmas


J Sainsbury plc, the major UK and US food retailer, today issued its third
quarter trading statement for the 12 weeks to 5th January 2002.


Sainsbury's Supermarkets

  *  Fourth consecutive quarter of increasingly strong like-for-like sales
     growth

  *  Total sales up 7.4% excluding petrol

  *  Like-for-like sales growth up 6.4% excluding petrol

  *  Record Christmas and New Year trading period; like-for-like sales up
     6.8% excluding petrol for 6 weeks to 5th January


Good progress on store reinvigoration programme

  *  16 stores refurbished and 11 stores extended in the quarter, bringing a
     total of 66 stores refurbished and 15 stores extended year to date

  *  Sales uplifts remain strong


Transformation programme on track

  * Confident of achieving £150m cost savings target for the current
    financial year

  * Systems and supply chain implementation going well


Shaw's (US)

  * Total sales growth of 6.7%
 
  * Q3 like-for-like sales growth of 1.6%


Sir Peter Davis, group chief executive, said:


'This is the fourth quarter of increasingly strong like-for-like sales growth
in the UK and the third consecutive quarter of like-for-like sales of 6.0% or
more.  This is a very significant improvement over the 0.6% achieved in the
same three quarters last year.  We've seen continued growth in customer visits
and increasing average spend.  We had a strong Christmas and New Year trading
period, with our extended Christmas range selling well across the estate.


'Improved planning, better systems and the hard work of our colleagues
delivered consistently high availability nationwide.  Record volumes were
delivered into stores on peak days over the festive period, allowing us to
keep customers well supplied throughout.  In total we had 131 stores
reinvigorated at Christmas, compared to 31 stores at Christmas 2000 and we
continue to see strong sales uplifts.


'Shaw's produced good growth over the Thanksgiving period but along with the
rest of the sector experienced softer trading conditions and unseasonably mild
weather in the North East of the USA over the Christmas period.


'We're very encouraged by these results, which gives us confidence that we are
on track to fulfil the targets we have set ourselves this year and to deliver
a sustainable recovery of the business.'


Unaudited Q3 sales

                              Sainsbury's Supermarkets        Shaws

                              Excl. Petrol    Inc. Petrol

                              Q3 2002 Q3 2001 Q3 2002 Q3 2001 Q3 2002 Q3 2001

Like for like sales             6.4     0.4     5.0     0.7     1.6     1.3
growth (%)

Net new space added (%)         1.0     2.0     1.0     2.5     5.1    -0.5

Total sales growth (%)          7.4     2.4     6.0     3.2     6.7     0.8

*Sainsbury's Supermarket's inflation in Q3 was -1.2% including petrol, and
1.5% excluding petrol.



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