J Sainsbury PLC on Wednesday reported a swing to pretax loss for fiscal 2021 as the coronavirus pandemic boosted costs and offset growth in revenue in the period.
The British grocer posted a pretax loss of 261 million pounds ($363.1 million) for the year ended March 6, compared with a profit of GBP255.0 million in fiscal 2020. A consensus estimate taken from FactSet and based on five analysts’ projections expected the company to post a pretax loss of GBP275.8 million.
Underlying pretax profit came in at GBP356 million, 39% lower than the previous fiscal year.
Revenue rose to GBP29.05 billion from GBP28.99 billion a year earlier. Still, expenses increased too, including GBP485 million in coronavirus-related costs. Revenue slightly missed market forecasts of GBP29.18 billion, also taken from FactSet and based on 11 analysts’ projections.
The board declared a final dividend of 7.4 pence, for a full year-payout of 17.9 pence, including an interim dividend of 3.2 pence and a special dividend of 7.3 pence in lieu of the final dividend for fiscal 2020, both announced in the half-year results in November.
The company said it expects underlying pretax profit for fiscal 2022 to exceed its fiscal 2020 comparable and stand in line with market consensus at around GBP620 million.
