Do we like them?

Do we like Sainsbury's?

UK supermarket chain with Nectar loyalty scheme and Argos general merchandise; based in London.

Our score: 6 out of 10. A mainstream grocer with a mixed record. Pay disputes and an equal pay case count against it, and nothing here shows it going above and beyond. We'd back it only cautiously.

Sainsbury's is one of the UK's big supermarket chains. Simon Roberts took over as CEO from Mike Coupe in June 2020. Coupe had overseen the Argos takeover and the Nectar loyalty scheme.

Now it is moving away from Argos. One report says Argos will be sold to Swift, a new company set up by retail veterans, for about £120m. Roberts says Sainsbury's wants to focus on its core grocery business. Nectar will continue to be used across both.

On pay, it's a mixed picture. In 2022 shareholders voted overwhelmingly against a resolution to make it a Living Wage accredited employer. The company said most of its contractors were already paid at or above the living wage.

There have also been legal tangles. The Court of Appeal rejected Sainsbury's attempt to throw out an equal pay claim on a technicality. Separately, Argos was fined nearly £1.5m after an HMRC investigation found it paying below minimum wage. That gets a 6.