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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Business
Graeme Wearden

Five-year mortgage rate hits 6% as savings lag behind; UK ‘only G7 member with rising inflation’ – as it happened

Sainsbury Inflation Simon Roberts CBI
Housing in Liberton, Edinburgh.
Housing in Liberton, Edinburgh. Photograph: Murdo MacLeod/The Guardian

Closing post

Time to wrap up….. here are today’s main stories so far:

Morrisons is closing a fruit-packing plant in Bradford, putting 450 jobs at risk in the supermarket’s home city where it traces its roots back to 1899.

The debt-laden supermarket chain, which is battling to save costs after a takeover in October 2021 by the American private equity group Clayton Dubilier & Rice, said it was moving operations from the Cutler Heights area of the West Yorkshire city – its first ever fruit-packing plant – to another plant in Thrapston, Northamptonshire, and a distribution centre in Wakefield in the second part of this year.

Morrisons said that while the jobs in Bradford were at risk, about 400 roles would be created in Thrapston and Wakefield. More here….

The Bank of England definitely has “a positive scorecard” in its fight against inflation, financial services minister Andrew Griffith says.

Griffith is apearing before the House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee, as it holds an inquiry into the BoE’s forecasting track record.

Griffith also told the committee that Britain’s inflation trends have more in common with those in other Western countries than differences (although, the OECD has singled the UK out today as the only place with rising inflation).

How to repair English water after Thames Water crisis

Common Wealth, the think tank, have published a new report today into England’s water sector, in the light of the crisis at Thames Water.

In it, Dr Ewan McGaughey of King’s College London outlines how the Water Industry Act 1991 allows any water company that is “likely to be unable to pay its debts” to be placed into administration.

A water company which has seriously breached duties such as “improving” pipes (not allowing leaks), or to “cleanse” sewers and ensure they are “effectively drained” (not dumping sewage into rivers and onto beaches) could also be put into administration, the report says.

Dr McGaughey explains:

This can lead to the transfer of the water enterprise to a new entity. Where a company is insolvent, shareholders will usually receive no money.

And in the long run, the report (online here) argues that the public ownership for the water industry should be restored.

Dr McGaughey writes:

Using “special administration”, the upfront public cost will be minimal since water companies are insolvent if made to carry out duties without subsidies. Frivolous debt may be subordinated. UK and other pension funds should no longer bear the risk of failing water firms, or be able to take dividends through taxpayer subsidies or regulatory subsidies by not paying for pollution.

England should follow the model of Dutch law and ban re-privatisation of water resources, including sewer networks.

Last week, regulator Ofwat said Thames Water has “strong liquidity”, but needs to improve its financial resilience.

Updated

Over in parliament, Rishi Sunak has been sidestepping questions about whether he will hit his target of halving UK inflation by the end of the year.

Sunak is testifying to the Commons liaison committee, which comprises the chairs of all Commons select committees.

My colleague Andrew Sparrow has the details:

Q; What are your chances of halving inflation?

Sunak says he will leave that to the forecasters.

But inflation is “more persistent than people anticipated”, he says.

Q: What percentage chance do you think you have of hitting your target?

Sunak refuses to say.

Q: Do you accept that you are more likely to miss your target than when you set it?

Sunak says he does not consider that. He is focused on doing what he can to bring inflation down.

Q: Do you have confidence in what the Bank of England is doing?

Sunak says of course he supports them. Over the past 20/25 years, their track record has been very strong. He does not think anyone wants to return to a world where the government sets interest rates.

Here’s all the action:

Updated

Ineos owner Jim Ratcliffe accuses UK regulator of being ‘hostile to business’

Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the owner of the chemicals giant Ineos, has accused Britain’s competition regulator of becoming “increasingly hostile to business”.

Ratcliffe took a break from his pursuit of Manchester United to criticise the Competition and Markets Authority for blocking Ineos’s purchase of a concrete additives business being sold by the Swiss chemicals group Sika earlier this year.

Ratcliffe said the CMA’s decision was “yet another example of a deal being stopped that would benefit the UK”, the FT reports.

Ratcliffe accused the CMA of “building a reputation as an overly aggressive regulator with little regard for the impact of its decisions on UK business”.

He also said:

Add to this, the ridiculous North Sea windfall tax and continuing high energy costs and we are seeing a government that is driving business out of the UK.

The CMA was also criticised by Microsoft and Activision Blizzard for blocking their merger earlier this year.

The regulator, though, has insisted that “effective merger control is pro-business and pro-growth”.

UPDATE: A CMA spokesman said:

“It is critical when approving a potential buyer that we don’t allow new competition problems to develop.

“We note that Ineos is one of only three major suppliers of a key product that Sika and its competitors rely on.”

Updated

UK only G7 country with rising inflation, says OECD

The UK is experiencing a sharper inflationary squeeze than other advanced economies, a report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development shows.

The OECD reports that the UK is the only member of the G7 where inflation rose in May.

Year-on-year inflation in the G7 fell to 4.6% in May 2023, from 5.4% in April, the OECD reports, which is the lowest level since September 2021.

It says:

Inflation declined in all G7 countries apart from the United Kingdom, where inflation edged up, as core inflation continued to rise.

The lowest inflation rates among G7 countries were registered in Japan and Canada, both below 3.5%.

In the UK, the Consumer Prices Index including owner-occupiers’ housing costs (CPIH) rose by 7.9% in the 12 months to May, up from 7.8% in April.

But headline CPI (which is tracked by the Bank of England) was flat at 8.7% in the year to May.

The OECD adds:

Food and energy inflation remained the main contributors to headline inflation in Italy, while core inflation was the main inflation driver in France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Inflation across the G7
Inflation across the G7 Photograph: OECD

Updated

The government minister Johnny Mercer has suggested banks could be “profiteering” by failing to pass on interest rate increases to savers, while continuing to hike mortgage rates.

Mercer told Sky News:

Interest rates are going up and the government wants to see those passed on to savers.

You don’t want to see any profiteering like this, particularly when life is really tough for people out there at the moment around interest rates.

Today’s Moneyfacts data showed a four percentage point difference between the average two-year fixed mortgage (6.47%), and the average easy access savings rate (2.45%).

Updated

Full story: Average rate on five-year fixed mortgage deal in UK climbs above 6%

A typical five-year fixed mortgage deal in the UK now has an interest rate of more than 6%, putting further pressure on borrowers who are hoping to buy a home or reaching the end of their existing deals.

Data from the financial information firm Moneyfacts shows the cost of a five-year deal for homeowners rose to 6.01% on Tuesday, up from 5.97% on Monday. It is the highest level since last November, after mortgage rates had been driven up by the mini-budget chaos of last autumn.

The average two-year fixed deal is now 6.47%, up from 6.42% on Monday.

Mortgage lenders have been increasing rates and withdrawing deals after the Bank of England raised interest rates by half a point to 5% last month in an attempt to curb high inflation.

Threadneedle Street has now raised interest rates 13 times since December 2021. But inflation – which measures the rate at which prices are rising – remained stubbornly high at 8.7% in May. The UK’s official inflation target is 2%.

The rapid rise in the base rate is bad news for millions of borrowers whose home loan deals are due to end in the coming weeks and months, as many currently enjoy a rate of less than 2%. The prospect of a huge jump in mortgage payments comes as Britons struggle to cope with higher food and energy bills.

More here:

Jeremy Hunt has urged UK banks to pass on higher interest rates to savers.

The chancellor says the FCA has his “full backing” ahead of the regulator’s meeting with banks to examine the gap between spiralling mortgage costs and savings rates.

Updated

The latest uptick in mortgage rates spells even more misery for borrowers, says Myron Jobson, a senior personal finance analyst at interactive investor:

It is a gut punch to the around 800,000 households with a fixed-rate mortgage deal set to expire in the second half of this year. Higher mortgage rates means borrowers end up shelling out more in interest over the life of their loans. This translates into higher monthly mortgage payments which would weigh heavily on homeowners already struggling to battle the inflationary beast in other areas of expenditure like food bills.

Many borrowers will be desperately rubbing their figurative crystal ball to get an idea of where mortgage rates are heading in the not too distant future. When interest rates are on the rise, deciding between a short- or long-term fixed-rate mortgage deal requires careful consideration. Ultimately the decision between a short- or long-term fixed-rate mortgage depends on your individual circumstances. It is worth consulting a mortgage adviser to explore your options.

Nationwide building society reported last Friday that house prices had fallen by 3.5% in the last 12 months.

This “recalibration” in house prices is the only positive outcome of higher rates for buyers, Jobson adds:

The latest increase in mortgage rates threatens to shatter the resilience in house prices in June observed in Nationwide’s latest house price index.

But the combination of higher mortgage rates and already inflated home prices has significantly limited what wannabe homeowners can afford, pushing many of them out of the market. This has a ripple effects on the rental market. With fewer home sales, more people will continue to rent, potentially causing rent costs to go up.

Updated

Water companies must pay to fix illegal sewage discharges rather than pass the cost to customers, lawyers for the charity WildFish are to argue in the high court today.

The campaign group will allege at a judicial review that the government’s £56bn plan to reduce raw sewage dumping from storm overflows is illegal. More details here …

Updated

Thames Water fined £3.3m for 'reckless' sewage discharge

Thames Water’s Mogden sewage treatment works in Isleworth, west London.
A Thames Water’s Mogden sewage treatment works Photograph: Ben Stansall/AFP/Getty Images

Thames Water has been fined £3.3m for a “reckless” incident in which “millions of litres” of undiluted sewage was pumped into rivers near Gatwick airport in 2017.

A two-day sentencing hearing at Lewes crown court was told there was a “significant and lengthy” period of polluting the Gatwick stream and River Mole between Crawley in West Sussex and Horley in Surrey on 11 October 2017.

The judge Christine Laing KC said on Tuesday that said she believed Thames Water had shown a “deliberate attempt” to mislead the Environment Agency over the incident, such as by omitting water readings and submitting a report to the regulator denying responsibility.

Thames Water pleaded guilty on 28 February to four charges relating to illegally discharging waste in October 2017.

This penalty comes as the utility giant, which serves 15 million households across London and Thames Valley, faces concerns over its future amid mounting debt.

The record fine against a water company for illegal discharge of sewage is held by Southern Water at £90m for nearly 7,000 incidents across Hampshire, Kent and Sussex in a case brought by the Environment Agency in 2021.

Updated

Sainsbury's CEO: Higher wages will fuel food inflation

Food prices in Britain will not return to where they were before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the boss of Sainsbury’s has warned.

Hours after announcing that food inflation was falling, Simon Roberts predicted that a permanent rise in labour costs will mitigate the easing of commodity and energy pressures.

Roberts has cautioned that food inflation will still be a challenge going forward as higher labour costs were now fixed into the operating models of food retailers and suppliers.

He said that while falls in commodity costs had driven recent price cuts in fresh food products, such as milk, butter, bread, pasta and rice, prices of packaged goods would be more stubborn.

Roberts told reporters:

“We should just remember that energy costs are still high and labour costs have been elevated permanently.

“So we would expect inflation to continue to improve, but it’s not going to go back to where it was before because the cost of producing food is clearly elevated from where it was a year or two back.

Basic pay is growing by 7.2% per year, according to the latest labour market data – the fastest rate on record, but still slower than CPI inflation which was 8.7% in April and May.

Paul Welch, the CEO of the London-based adviser LargeMortgageLoans.com, fears that mortgage rates will continue to rise until inflation is brought under control.

Welch says:

As long as swap rates, the rates which banks pay to borrow money, remain high, then fixed rates for mortgages will continue to rise.

If core inflation doesn’t come down significantly this month, or God forbid rises, then interest rates and swap rates will continue to go up and up. It gives me no pleasure to say that we could realistically see some fixed rates reach 7% before the summer is out.

Currently, 10- and 15-year swap rates are the best value for money, so if you like the stability of a fixed rate and you can afford to fix for the long term, then you could try a 10-year fixed rate mortgage, with a rate of less than 5% currently.

Updated

The Liberal Democrats’ Treasury spokesperson, Sarah Olney, has urged the government to do more to help borrowers, after the average five-year fixed mortgage deal surpassed 6% this morning.

She said:

This is yet more mortgage misery for homeowners on the brink.

Rishi Sunak asking homeowners to hold their nerve is sounding more tin-eared by the day.

It shows this Conservative government is just totally out of touch.

Conservative ministers sent mortgages spiralling through all their chaos and incompetence; now they are refusing to lift a finger to help.

The Lib Dems are proposing a £3bn emergency mortgage protection fund to protect people whose homes would otherwise be repossessed due to rising interest rates.

Updated

Le Pain Quotidien in Highgate village
Le Pain Quotidien in Highgate village. Photograph: Roberto Herrett/Alamy

The bakery and coffee chain Le Pain Quotidien has shut nine UK sites with the loss of 250 jobs after falling into administration.

BrunchCo UK, the company trading as the high street chain, has confirmed it hired administrators from Kroll.

Eight cafes in London and one in Oxford’s recently refurbished Westgate Centre have shut as a result of the insolvency.

The Le Pain Quotidien site at St Pancras railway station run by sister company SPQ Holdings Limited will continue to operate.

Updated

The bad news for mortgage holders is that UK base interest rates are expected to keep climbing from their current level of 5%.

The Bank of England is expected to vote for another increase at its next meeting in August. This morning a half-point rise to 5.5% is seen as a 75% chance by the money markets.

Rates are expected to hit 6% by November and peak at 6.25% in February or March, before starting to drop next autumn.

Elliott Culley, a director at the mortgage broker Switch Mortgage Finance, says:

Unfortunately, under current forecasts, rates still haven’t reached their peak. Five-year fixed rates have and continue to be cheaper than two-year fixes and some clients have decided to fix for longer due to the uncertain outlook.

There are still five-year fixed rates under 6% and customers should remember this [Moneyfacts’ data] is an average rate. The current predictions still show rates should reduce by the end of 2024, albeit not to the low levels seen in the past.

Updated

If you want to understand why the bank bosses are being called in to the FCA this week, look no further than Lloyds Bank’s savings rates, my colleague Miles Brignall writes.

The UK’s biggest bank is currently paying its easy access savers 0.90% on balances of up to £24,999. It pays 1.15% on balances from £25,000 to £99,999, and 1.50% on balances of £100,000 or more.

Barclays Everyday saver pays 1%, while NatWest’s savings rates are a tiny bit better – starting at 1.11% – but nowhere near the best rates.

Customers who switched their balance to the Family Building Society would earn 4.35% with its instant access online saver.

Updated

Naked delays full-year results, as Gormley returns

A delivery from Naked Wines.
A delivery from Naked Wines. Photograph: BackyardBest/Alamy

Just in: the drinks retailer Naked Wine has revealed that sales in the first quarter of the financial year have been below expectations.

Naked blames “reduced levels of new customer recruitment”. The company enjoyed a surge of business in the Covid-19 lockdowns but has struggled after pandemic restrictions were lifted.

Naked has delayed the release of its audited results for last year, which had been due on Thursday, but reiterated its earlier guidance.

In another surprise move, the founder Rowan Gormley is returning to chair the company again. Gormley, who owns almost 3% of Naked’s shares, will try to spur a drive for new customers.

Naked tells the City:

As indicated in today’s trading update, it is clear that to deliver sustainable, profitable growth the group needs to recruit new customers at a higher rate.

Having founded Naked Wines in 2008 and built the business to nearly £200m of revenues, Rowan is well placed to support that goal.

Updated

Despite the squeeze from higher interest rates, Sainsbury’s says it has not seen a rise in bad debt at its banking business since its last update in April.

The chief financial officer, Blathnaid Bergin, told reporters this morning:

The bank is performing in line with our expectations.

We have not seen anything new on bad debt.

Updated

Watchdog summons UK bank bosses to discuss weak savings rates

UK bank bosses will be grilled by the financial watchdog this week amid mounting concerns that they are profiting from rising interest rates by offering paltry savings rates to customers.

Executives from the big high street names Lloyds Banking Group, NatWest, HSBC and Barclays, as well as from smaller lenders, are due to attend a meeting at the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) on Thursday to discuss concerns that savings rates are lagging far behind the soaring costs of mortgages and loans.

The Bank of England has raised its base rate to 5% and further increases are expected.

Today’s figures from Moneyfacts throw a new spotlight on the situation, with a two-year fixed mortgage now costing 6.47% while easy access savings accounts pay just 2.45% on average.

More here:

Updated

Savings rates continue to lag far behind mortgage rates.

Moneyfacts reports that the average one-year fixed savings rate has dropped to 4.80% today, down from 4.82% on Monday.

The average easy access savings rate has risen to 2.45%, up from 2.43%, while the average rate on a one-year fixed cash ISA rate has crept up to 4.48% from 4.47%.

Updated

Five-year fixed mortgage rate hits 6%

UK borrowers continue to be hit by higher mortgage rates as the cost of living squeeze continues.

The average five-year fixed residential mortgage rate has hit 6.01% today, up from 5.97% on Monday, data from the financial data provider Moneyfacts shows.

That’s the highest level since last November, when mortgage rates had been driven up by the mini-budget chaos last autumn.

Shorter-term mortgage rates also continue to climb. The average two-year fixed residential mortgage rate has jumped to 6.47, up from 6.42% on Monday.

The average two-year fixed was last higher on 31 October 2022 (when it was 6.48%).

These fixed-term rates have climbed in recent weeks as the UK’s persistently high inflation rate has pushed up interest rate expectations.

Two-year government bond yields, which are used to price fixed-rate mortgages, yesterday hit a 15-year high of 5.3%.

Analysts have warned that more than a quarter of UK homeowners on a fixed-rate mortgage face sharp increase in monthly payments before the next election.

Economists at the Resolution Foundation thinktank predicted last month that total annual home loan payments were on course to rise by £15.8bn by 2026 – delivering a £2,900 blow for the average household remortgaging next year.

Updated

Two-thirds of voters support supermarket price controls to ease cost of living

Food price inflation may finally be falling, but two-thirds of the public think food prices should be capped.

A survey of 1,500 adults by BMG for the i newspaper found that 67% of those questioned backed the idea of the government introducing price caps on essential goods to help households manage the effects of rampant inflation.

Just 13% of respondents opposed the idea, which would see ministers set prices for certain everyday products such as milk, eggs and bread in supermarkets.

The idea was raised at the end of May, when the government met food retailers, but the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, has ruled out compulsory price caps.

The Labour MP Richard Burgon called for ministers to cap prices in the wake of the poll result, saying:

Not only would price caps be popular but they are the right thing to do. There is growing evidence that inflation is now being driven by companies hiking their prices to boost profits.

Labour, though, questions whether price controls would be effective.

Critics have claimed price caps would lead to shortages, as food producers would favour selling their products at full price in other countries.

But price controls would tackle greedflation, and cause less economic damage than raising interest rates to cool the economy and subdue growth.

Updated

Sainsbury’s CEO, Simon Roberts, has told reporters that prices are falling fastest among the products that jumped the most in the cost of living squeeze, such as fresh food.

Roberts says:

“We’ve seen in those products where the prices went up first, and that was predominantly in fresh food, we’ve seen prices start to come down.”

Updated

Fidelity: falling food inflation is 'big deal' for shoppers

For Britain’s second largest supermarket, Sainsbury’s, to state that food inflation is starting to fall is a big deal for shoppers.

So says Emma-Lou Montgomery, associate director from Fidelity International’s Personal Investing share dealing service.

Montgomery explains:

While every one of the ‘big four’ has chased price-sensitive consumers during the cost of living crisis, the real difference that we will all taste is when prices do come down and aren’t just being tinkered with at the edges by the grocery giants who put 99% of food on the nation’s tables.

The launch of Nectar Prices in April, Sainsbury’s Stamford Street – its ‘entry-price’ range, and its ongoing Aldi Price Match campaign are all designed to show customers that this supermarket cares about the cost to their pockets. It will be more telling to see if there is any shift in the ranking of the big four once food inflation does subside.

And we get a sense of whether customers really felt cost savings were for their benefit, or just part of the battle for profits and market share that has been playing out between these big supermarket chains for years now.

Updated

City investors appear unimpressed with Sainsbury’s results. Its shares have dropped 1.5% at the start of trading in London, one of the biggest fallers on the FTSE 100 index.

Retail analyst Nick Bubb has digested Sainsbury’s results, and reports:

Well, one of the most eye-catching claims in Sainsbury’s better-than-expected Q1 update is that the business is now seeing grocery volume growth, despite double-digit food price inflation, but one of the most impressive performances is the 5% growth of Argos in a tough electricals market.

Updated

Sainsbury’s blames the 3.7% drop in clothing sales in the last quarter on the cooler weather for part of it.

Sales were stronger in recent weeks, though, as the weather improved – encouraging people to buy summer outfits (as Next also reported last month).

Updated

Sainsbury’s has delivered “another resilient update” this morning, says Zoe Gillespie, investment manager at RBC Brewin Dolphin.

In an environment that many feared would lead to customers trading down, the supermarket continues to grow sales and its guidance for the year is largely unchanged.

Sainsbury’s is investing in pricing and doing what it can to support customers through the cost of living crisis, which is a prudent move even if it does mean short-term margin pressure.

The company’s share price is up more than one-fifth this year, despite the well-known challenges it faces. With a relatively strong balance sheet, excess cash flow and growing market share, Sainsbury’s looks well placed among its peers.”

Updated

Falling inflation is not the same as falling prices, of course.

But Orwa Mohamad, analyst at Third Bridge, is hopeful that food prices will start to fall later this year (reminder: Sainsbury’s says its 100 top-selling products are now cheaper than in March).

Mohamad explains:

Our experts expect prices to come down as we come out of the summer into September. Supermarkets are facing accusations of profiteering from customers and are already exerting more pressure on suppliers

Sainsbury’s reported like-for-like sales growth in line with industry trends. According to our experts, this growth is still being driven by high inflation and a high comparison to last year.

Updated

Falling food inflation should ease the pressure on consumers, says Charlie Huggins, manager of the quality shares portfolio at Wealth Club:

“This is a solid trading update from Sainsbury’s with a return to volume growth and an improved market share performance, with bank holidays and warmer weather towards the end of the period providing a welcome boost.

Sainsbury’s has worked hard to lower prices in the face of intense competition. The launch of Nectar prices, where Nectar card holders save money on everyday items seems to have been well received and has helped the group to hold its own against Tesco and the German discounters.

The group comments that food inflation is starting to fall and this should help ease pressure on consumers, whose finances have been squeezed from all angles by rising prices, no more so than for the weekly shop.

That said, it is far too early for Sainsbury’s to declare victory, Huggins adds:

The competitive environment continues to heat up with Aldi, Lidl and Amazon all looking to expand in UK grocery. Cost pressures remain intense, for both Sainsbury’s and its customers, meaning profits will likely go nowhere this year. But for now, the group is holding its own.”

Updated

Sainsbury’s adds that its profit outlook is unchanged.

It still expects to make underlying pre-tax profits of between £640m and £700m in the current financial year.

Last year it made underlying profits of £690m – down from £730m at the same time last year.

Sainsbury’s says its sales growth was “driven primarily” by volume growth (as opposed to price rises), with strong food demand over bank holidays and during the warmer weather towards the end of the quarter.

It says:

Our Summer Edition range is particularly popular, with best-sellers such as the Taste the Difference Signature Burger, Taste the Difference Greek Inspired Whipped Feta Salad and our award-winning Slow Cooked British Pork Ribs

Updated

Sainsbury's: Food inflation is starting to fall

Good morning, and welcome to our rolling coverage of business, the financial markets and the world economy.

After months of soaring prices, food inflation is starting to fall.

That’s the word from supermarket chain J Sainsbury this morning, which will bring some relief to households, the Bank of England and Rishi Sunak alike.

In its latest financial results, just released, Sainsbury’s reports that its like-for-like sales (excluding fuel) jumped by 9.8% in the 16 weeks to 24 June.

Sales at its grocery arm were “strong”, up 11%, Sainsbury’s reports.

Price rises by supermarket chains have driven UK food inflation sharply high this year:

And although global food commodities have been dropping in recent months, having surged after the Ukraine invasion, supermarkets and food producers have been criticised for being too slow to pass them on.

But Simon Roberts, the chief executive of J Sainsbury, says the worst of the food price squeeze is over.

Roberts explains:

“We are putting all of our energy and focus into battling inflation so that customers get the very best prices when they shop with us, particularly now as household budgets are under more pressure than ever.

Food inflation is starting to fall and we are fully committed to passing on savings to our customers. Since March, we have invested over £60m in lowering prices, leading on price cuts across more than 120 essentials like bread, butter, milk, pasta, chicken and toilet roll.

Roberts adds that the prices on Sainsbury’s top 100 selling products are now lower than they were in March, “against a market where prices have gone up”.

He adds:

Customers have also saved over £90m since we launched Nectar Prices in April. In addition, we’re offering great value through Stamford Street, our entry-price range and through our biggest ever Aldi Price Match campaign. All of this is underpinned by the continued delivery of our cost-saving programmes.

Sainsbury’s also reports that its general merchandise sales have risen by 4%, but clothing sales were down 3.7%.

Sainsbury’s sales figures

Reaction to follow….

Also coming up today

Nature abhors a vacuum. And with the scandal-hit CBI fighting for its survival, the British Chambers of Commerce seems keen to fill the gap.

This morning, several chambers and their member businesses will be attending a breakfast briefing in Downing Street with the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt.

They will discuss how best to drive investment and local economic growth across England, the role of government, and the role of freeports and investment zones, says the BCC, which has just launched an economic forecasting unit in an apparent move to supplant the CBI.

Earlier today, Australia’s central bank held interest rates on hold, after inflation cooled slightly last month.

The agenda

  • 7am BST: German trade balance for May.

  • 10.15am BST: Treasury committee holds hearing into UK regional imbalances.

  • 3pm BST: House of Lords industry and regulators committee hearing on the UK water industry.

Updated

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