# J Sainsbury (SBRY.LSE)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/SBRY.LSE

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:35:53.623Z. Financial observations: FY2000–FY2026.

Listing currency: GBX. Reporting currency: GBP.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: fail; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: GBX 350.80 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: pass

- 1 revenue decline in the last 10 years (informational)

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 1

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.28×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.02×

- FY2018: 0.02×

- FY2019: 0.03×

- FY2020: 0.04×

- FY2021: 0.02×

- FY2022: 0.03×

- FY2023: 0.03×

- FY2024: 0.02×

- FY2025: 0.03×

- FY2026: 0.03×

### moat: fail

- ROIC median below threshold

- ROIC worst years below threshold (more than 1 bad year allowed)

- ROIC, median of available years: 5.0%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 3.7%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 0.9 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 7.1%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 6.2%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 0

- Capital spending / revenue: 2.3%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: -0.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 3.7%

- FY2018: 3.9%

- FY2019: 6.2%

- FY2020: 5.1%

- FY2021: 4.7%

- FY2022: 5.4%

- FY2023: 5.3%

- FY2024: 3.1%

- FY2025: 5.0%

- FY2026: 5.2%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: -0.71×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: GBP -1.2B

- Net income, five-year total: GBP 1.6B

- Return on incremental invested capital: >100%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: -1.7 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: -14.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: -2.5%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2022: -0.18×

- FY2023: -3.00×

- FY2024: -6.82×

- FY2025: 2.47×

- FY2026: -0.26×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2026 (9 years)

- buybacks leaned toward cheaper years (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 3.9% vs 5.0%

- Per-share earnings: 0.15 to 0.10 (three-year endpoint medians)

- per-share value declined or ends nonpositive

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: -0.3%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: -0.3%

- Market cap gain: GBP 1.6B

- Cumulative retained earnings: GBP 902M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: -0.3%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: -0.3%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2026

- Per-share value growth: -4.9%

- Per-share value change: GBP -0.05

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: GBP 0.15

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: GBP 0.10

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): 0.27

- Average buyback yield: 1.3%

- Buyback history: 9 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: No

- Acquisition spending: GBP 1.2B

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: GBP 2.5B

- ROIC, first three-year median: 3.9%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 5.0%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: GBP 0.15

- FY2018: GBP 0.12

- FY2019: GBP 0.07

- FY2020: GBP 0.07

- FY2021: GBP -0.09

- FY2022: GBP 0.29

- FY2023: GBP 0.09

- FY2024: GBP 0.06

- FY2025: GBP 0.10

- FY2026: GBP 0.17

### accounting: pass

- Sloan accruals: -7.5%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 0.77×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Stock compensation / operating cash flow: 4.2%

- Earnings backed by cash: Yes

- Operating cash / earnings: 4.68×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.14×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: -3.9%

- FY2018: -4.8%

- FY2019: -3.1%

- FY2020: -5.5%

- FY2021: -9.1%

- FY2022: -0.8%

- FY2023: -8.3%

- FY2024: -7.3%

- FY2025: -4.6%

- FY2026: -7.5%

## Holders

## Price story

Up 36% since Oct 2023 · "Sainsbury’s hikes earnings outlook after strong first half" (uk.finance.yahoo.com, Nov 2025) · sales +2.5%

Story as of 2026-10-16T10:00:06.291Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-04-17: Sainsbury’s predicts flat profits as grocery price war heats up ([uk.finance.yahoo.com](https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/sainsbury-predicts-flat-profits-grocery-065504397.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +2.5%; source https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml; observed 2026-06-11.

- FY2017: GBP 26B 

- FY2018: GBP 28B 

- FY2019: GBP 29B 

- FY2020: GBP 29B 

- FY2021: GBP 29B 

- FY2022: GBP 30B 

- FY2023: GBP 31B 

- FY2024: GBP 33B 

- FY2025: GBP 33B 

- FY2026: GBP 34B 

### Gross margin · FY2026

gross margin 6.2%; source https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml; observed 2026-06-11.

- FY2017: 6.2% 

- FY2018: 6.6% 

- FY2019: 7.9% 

- FY2020: 7.6% 

- FY2021: 7.0% 

- FY2022: 7.4% 

- FY2023: 7.4% 

- FY2024: 7.1% 

- FY2025: 7.0% 

- FY2026: 6.2% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in grocery stores; annual sales are GBP 33.6 billion.

- Source: https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml (filed 2026-06-11); FY2026: revenue 33647000000; grossProfit 2072000000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 6.2% to 7.1% during 2024–26; it earns 5% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 7.1%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 7%.

- Source: https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml (filed 2026-06-11); FY2026: grossProfit / revenue = 6.2%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); 10-year return on capital observations [[2017,0.037263518875672995],[2018,0.03870428722722697],[2019,0.0619040610368791],[2020,0.05093031875463306],[2021,0.04702705031013094],[2022,0.05399297586317909],[2023,0.05308182784272051],[2024,0.031136322708445886],[2025,0.04991435759519756],[2026,0.05238635785569358]]; median 0.05042233817491531. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Can it raise prices

Kept about a 7% gross margin through 2022 cost inflation.

- Source: https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml (filed 2026-06-11); Gross margin observations: [[2021,0.07029743872211512],[2022,0.07379160394714836],[2023,0.07376710806262107]]; range within 2 percentage points.

### Where the cash goes

Paid dividends in 10 of 10 years; bought back GBP 315 million of shares.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2017: growth capex 6000000; upkeep 628000000; owner earnings 377000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.015915119363395226.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2018: growth capex 0; upkeep 561000000; owner earnings 479000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2019: growth capex 0; upkeep 474000000; owner earnings 974000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); FY2025: growth capex 0; upkeep 859000000; owner earnings 598000000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); Dividend observations: [[2017,230000000],[2018,212000000],[2019,224000000],[2020,270000000],[2021,255000000],[2022,242000000],[2023,319000000],[2024,306000000],[2025,308000000],[2026,566000000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml (filed 2026-06-11); FY2026: cash repurchases 315000000 GBP.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 5.7% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); SBRY.LSE SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 5.672 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What the price says

The price is 0.2 times annual sales; cash earnings are negative.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-06-11); Closing price 350.8 GBX; reporting-to-trading FX 100; FY2026 annual sales per share 14.534272191363238; price multiple 0.24136055481915178. FY2026 cash earnings/share -0.042764375633636297. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (GBX per share)

- 2016-10: GBX 250.90 per share

- 2016-11: GBX 231.00 per share

- 2016-12: GBX 249.30 per share

- 2017-01: GBX 257.90 per share

- 2017-02: GBX 267.60 per share

- 2017-03: GBX 264.30 per share

- 2017-04: GBX 275.40 per share

- 2017-05: GBX 281.00 per share

- 2017-06: GBX 251.70 per share

- 2017-07: GBX 244.80 per share

- 2017-08: GBX 235.60 per share

- 2017-09: GBX 237.90 per share

- 2017-10: GBX 242.50 per share

- 2017-11: GBX 232.30 per share

- 2017-12: GBX 241.40 per share

- 2018-01: GBX 252.50 per share

- 2018-02: GBX 259.00 per share

- 2018-03: GBX 238.80 per share

- 2018-04: GBX 309.00 per share

- 2018-05: GBX 318.30 per share

- 2018-06: GBX 321.20 per share

- 2018-07: GBX 327.00 per share

- 2018-08: GBX 324.20 per share

- 2018-09: GBX 321.80 per share

- 2018-10: GBX 311.20 per share

- 2018-11: GBX 305.00 per share

- 2018-12: GBX 265.00 per share

- 2019-01: GBX 285.20 per share

- 2019-02: GBX 229.00 per share

- 2019-03: GBX 235.70 per share

- 2019-04: GBX 222.50 per share

- 2019-05: GBX 200.10 per share

- 2019-06: GBX 195.95 per share

- 2019-07: GBX 196.65 per share

- 2019-08: GBX 196.10 per share

- 2019-09: GBX 219.80 per share

- 2019-10: GBX 203.50 per share

- 2019-11: GBX 214.30 per share

- 2019-12: GBX 229.90 per share

- 2020-01: GBX 202.40 per share

- 2020-02: GBX 195.75 per share

- 2020-03: GBX 210.40 per share

- 2020-04: GBX 198.10 per share

- 2020-05: GBX 194.00 per share

- 2020-06: GBX 208.70 per share

- 2020-07: GBX 187.15 per share

- 2020-08: GBX 183.80 per share

- 2020-09: GBX 190.95 per share

- 2020-10: GBX 201.60 per share

- 2020-11: GBX 211.10 per share

- 2020-12: GBX 225.50 per share

- 2021-01: GBX 244.40 per share

- 2021-02: GBX 226.20 per share

- 2021-03: GBX 242.50 per share

- 2021-04: GBX 237.70 per share

- 2021-05: GBX 265.60 per share

- 2021-06: GBX 271.80 per share

- 2021-07: GBX 283.30 per share

- 2021-08: GBX 304.00 per share

- 2021-09: GBX 285.40 per share

- 2021-10: GBX 299.40 per share

- 2021-11: GBX 276.60 per share

- 2021-12: GBX 275.80 per share

- 2022-01: GBX 290.70 per share

- 2022-02: GBX 275.70 per share

- 2022-03: GBX 252.70 per share

- 2022-04: GBX 233.30 per share

- 2022-05: GBX 228.40 per share

- 2022-06: GBX 204.00 per share

- 2022-07: GBX 221.00 per share

- 2022-08: GBX 203.40 per share

- 2022-09: GBX 174.30 per share

- 2022-10: GBX 194.40 per share

- 2022-11: GBX 222.60 per share

- 2022-12: GBX 217.70 per share

- 2023-01: GBX 262.60 per share

- 2023-02: GBX 268.20 per share

- 2023-03: GBX 278.70 per share

- 2023-04: GBX 276.40 per share

- 2023-05: GBX 270.60 per share

- 2023-06: GBX 269.00 per share

- 2023-07: GBX 277.40 per share

- 2023-08: GBX 270.10 per share

- 2023-09: GBX 252.80 per share

- 2023-10: GBX 257.30 per share

- 2023-11: GBX 285.90 per share

- 2023-12: GBX 302.60 per share

- 2024-01: GBX 270.20 per share

- 2024-02: GBX 249.60 per share

- 2024-03: GBX 270.40 per share

- 2024-04: GBX 263.40 per share

- 2024-05: GBX 277.20 per share

- 2024-06: GBX 255.00 per share

- 2024-07: GBX 275.40 per share

- 2024-08: GBX 292.40 per share

- 2024-09: GBX 295.40 per share

- 2024-10: GBX 266.20 per share

- 2024-11: GBX 261.20 per share

- 2024-12: GBX 273.60 per share

- 2025-01: GBX 254.40 per share

- 2025-02: GBX 258.60 per share

- 2025-03: GBX 235.20 per share

- 2025-04: GBX 266.80 per share

- 2025-05: GBX 285.40 per share

- 2025-06: GBX 289.80 per share

- 2025-07: GBX 303.40 per share

- 2025-08: GBX 299.40 per share

- 2025-09: GBX 334.00 per share

- 2025-10: GBX 341.60 per share

- 2025-11: GBX 322.20 per share

- 2025-12: GBX 325.00 per share

- 2026-01: GBX 320.40 per share

- 2026-02: GBX 349.00 per share

- 2026-03: GBX 339.00 per share

- 2026-04: GBX 328.80 per share

- 2026-05: GBX 296.30 per share

- 2026-06: GBX 319.80 per share

- 2026-07: GBX 359.40 per share

- 2026-08: GBX 333.60 per share

- 2026-09: GBX 329.60 per share

- 2026-10: GBX 350.80 per share

## Annual estimated value (GBX per share)

- FY2017: low GBX 201.56 per share, central GBX 228.75 per share, high GBX 264.95 per share

- FY2018: low GBX 217.15 per share, central GBX 246.22 per share, high GBX 284.92 per share

- FY2019: low GBX 194.48 per share, central GBX 221.29 per share, high GBX 256.99 per share

- FY2020: low GBX 276.17 per share, central GBX 327.80 per share, high GBX 378.13 per share

- FY2021: low GBX 240.11 per share, central GBX 266.86 per share, high GBX 302.47 per share

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original ESEF filing](https://filings.xbrl.org/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484/2026-02-28/ESEF/GB/0/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28/reports/213800VGZAAJIKJ9Y484-2026-02-28-T01.xhtml); period 2026-02-28, filed 2026-06-11.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.