Sainsbury's sees both sales and profits rise

The supermarket group Sainsbury has said both sales and profits rose over the year to 31 March.

Underlying pre-tax profit from core operations rose 17.5% to £671m ($1bn).

Same-store sales, which strip out the effect of new store openings, rose by 4.3%. The figure also excludes fuel sales.

The UK's third-biggest supermarket chain opened 51 new convenience stores over the year. Chairman David Tyler said sales growth was beating rivals'.

"We have delivered sales growth ahead of the market and good profit growth," he said.

Some 127,000 of Sainsbury's staff will share a record bonus pot of £80m.

Sainsbury's chief executive, Justin King, told the BBC he was confident about the company's prospects.

Our sales have been growing strongly in the last year and as we've reported today we've converted that into good profit growth."

As well as the convenience stores, the chain added 38 new supermarkets and has almost 900 outlets across the country.

It is also expanding its online grocery business, sales here were up by 20%.