Big four supermarket Sainsbury's today revealed it's taken a £485million hit in the face of Covid, with pre-tax profits down 39% for the year.
The food giant said a sharp decline in sales was partly offset by a 120% uplift in online food orders and new Argos concessions which largely remained open inside stores throughout the pandemic.
However, the crisis, coupled with a major restructuring, which included 1,200 job cuts and the closures of deli counters, sent the grocer slumping to a pre-tax loss of £261million for the year to March 6.
Sainsbury's fuel sales slumped 45% as workers were told to stay at home, while clothing dropped 8.5%.
The chain said it pushing ahead with its integration of Habitat and Argos which it hopes will save the business £150million over the next three years.
Sainsbury's is also consulting with colleagues on plans to close its online fulfilment centre in Bromley-by-Bow "to drive online efficiency and profitability".
Simon Roberts, chief executive of J Sainsbury plc, said the chain has processed 12million online deliveries for elderly and vulnerable customers in the past year as he thanked employees for their efforts.
"Above all else, I want to recognise the extraordinary job that my colleagues have done over the last 12 months,” he said.
"Their efforts have been nothing short of heroic as our entire team went above and beyond every day for our customers and communities. I am enormously grateful to the whole team for the way they have risen to the huge challenges this year and so selflessly looked after our customers and each other."
The company also increased the hourly pay for Sainsbury's and Argos store colleagues to £9.50 an hour with three Covid bonuses paid out to date.
"This year's financial results have been heavily influenced by the pandemic. Food and Argos sales are significantly higher, but the cost of keeping colleagues and customers safe during the pandemic has been high.
"Our full-year direct COVID-19 costs were £485 million, leading to a 39 per cent decrease in full-year underlying profit. We are pleased to propose a full-year dividend which is in line with last year, protecting shareholder income from the full impact of COVID-19 on profits.
"Like our customers, we are all looking forward to things feeling more normal over the coming months and getting excited about a summer of celebration, but we are also cautious about the economic outlook. While there is much that we cannot predict in the year ahead, we are absolutely focused on delivering for our customers and shareholders."
