Sainsbury's shares are crashing on poor first-half results

While all eyes are focused on President Trump, Sainsbury's shares are diving in London after the supermarket announced a poor set of first half numbers.

Here are the key numbers for the first six months of the year:

• Sales excluding fuel down 1%;
• Underlying group sales up 2.1%;
• Pre-tax profit up 9.7%;
• Underlying profit down 10.1%.

Not only is underlying profit tanking, the supermarket warns that second half underlying profits are set to be lower than the first "as a result of continued price investment and a step up in cost inflation in the second half."

Sainsbury's is the biggest faller on the FTSE 100 on Wednesday morning, with shares down over 6%. Here's how it looks at close to 9.45 a.m. GMT (4.45 a.m. ET):

AJ Bell Investment Director Russ Mould said in an emailed statement: "The market remains fiercely competitive and pricing pressures continue to squeeze its margins while the full impact of the devaluation of sterling on retail prices is still uncertain."

Sainsbury's says it is "delivering against its strategy" of improving stores for customers and says the takeover of Argos is going well.

CEO Mike Coupe said in Wednesday's statement: "The acquisition of HRG [Home Retail Group, which owns Argos] accelerates our strategy to give customers choice, convenience, speed and flexibility in when, where and how they shop. Food will always be at our heart and we are strengthening our Clothing, General

"Food will always be at our heart and we are strengthening our Clothing, General Merchandise and Financial Services offers to realise the potential of the Group. The combination of our products, services, customer data and fast delivery networks gives us a strong platform for growth and enables us to deliver clear synergies."

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