Sainsbury’s shares rise as says it will save £500m as government stimulus package gives retailers a 100% business rates holiday
- Sainsbury’s customers can now buy no more than three of a grocery product
- Tesco’s 24-hour stores will no longer be open all day so that they are restocked
- EU drivers’ hours rules have been relaxed so that supermarkets can be stocked
Britain’s third-largest supermarket Sainsbury’s has welcomed the government’s decision to give a business rates holiday to offset the impact of the coronavirus.
The retail giant says it could save over half a billion pounds from the emergency measure which was announced yesterday afternoon in a press conference by the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak.
Sainsbury’s paid £567million in business rates in the financial year to March 2019, of which about £500million was in relation to physical stores.
Sainsbury’s customers will now be able to buy no more than three of a grocery product, and only two of certain popular items including toilet roll, soap and UHT milk
The supermarket has been beset in recent days by large-scale panic buying of goods, including grocery products, toilet paper and meat.
It has now enforced restrictions on goods, closed all its in-store cafes and ramped up its online services to help cope with the rush in new demand.
Customers will now be able to buy no more than three of a grocery product, and only two of certain popular items including toilet roll, soap and UHT milk.
From tomorrow, the meat, pizza and fish counters in stores will also shut. The first hour of trading will only be allowed for those with disabilities or people over the age of 70. These two groups will also receive priority for online delivery.
An expanded click-and-collect’ service with a higher number of collection sites will operate from Monday meanwhile. Sainsbury’s says they believe this will ‘also work for people who are self-isolating.’
Fellow supermarket giant Morrisons has also built up its click-and-collect service in the last few days and has announced the creation of 3,500 new jobs to cope with this move to home delivery.
Sainsbury’s as well as other supermarkets have been beset by panic-buying in recent days
Sainsbury’s chief executive Mike Coupe said in a letter posted on the company’s Twitter page that it was ‘focusing all of our efforts on getting as much food and other essential items from our suppliers, into our warehouses and onto shelves as we possibly can.
‘We still have enough food for everyone – if we all just buy what we need for us and our families.’
Coupe concluded the letter, saying: ‘Everyone is working flat out to in difficult circumstances to do the best to serve their customers. If you’re able to say thank you to them when you see them, I know they would hugely appreciate it.’
Other supermarkets have imposed similar limits on item-buying and opening times as nervous shoppers have rushed to purchase certain goods as the coronavirus outbreak intensifies.
Tesco’s 24-hour stores will now longer be open all day to enable them to be restocked while budget supermarket Aldi has imposed rationing since Monday.
Consumers can now only buy four of any one product at its outlets.
To help supermarkets with their stockpiling, the Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has announced a 30-day relaxation on the enforcement of EU drivers’ hours rules.
The daily driving limit will rise from nine hours to eleven hours, while the daily rest requirements will go down to nine hours. Rules on regular breaks have also been modified slightly.
Shares in Sainsbury’s were up 6.9 per cent this morning to 205.3p.