Somerfield sees sales creep up

Somerfield 'Solid strategy'

Sales at UK supermarket chain Somerfield have edged up by 1% over the past year, the company announced, as it told investors it will accelerate its plans to revamp its stores.

The figures come just weeks after the Bristol-based group - which runs the Kwik Save chain as well as Somerfield-branded stores - threw out a takeover proposal which valued it at £510m.

Overall sales were £5bn for the year to 26 April, the company said, up 0.7% overall and up 1% in terms of like-for like-sales, with Somerfield stores showing an acceleration in the second half of the year.

Kwik Save sales were slower as the year went on but had been impacted by a major change in product ranges, the company said.

'Undervalued'

The offer, from retail entrepreneurs John Lovering and Bob Mackenzie, had been the second major bid for a UK supermarket group this year.

The other, Safeway, attracted interest from five bidders including larger rivals Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda.

But the Somerfield bid massively undervalued the group's property portfolio, the company said. It was last valued in 1996 at £546m, but is now thought by some analysts to be worth at least three times as much.

In the meantime, Somerfield has spent the past four months evaluating how best to revamp its stores.

Eight "new concept" Kwik Saves stores opened in the second half of the year, after six new openings in the first half, with both groups "trading substantially ahead of their pre-refit sales", the company said.