Sainsbury’s: on the shelf

Once the pre-eminent UK supermarket retailer, Sainsbury’s has steadily slipped down the pecking order. Analysts give their outlook on the troubled credit

Despite Sainsbury’s stated commitment to “making life taste better”, bondholders were left with a bitter taste in their mouth after the supermarket giant sold off a major US subsidiary – and gave over half of the £1.2 billion proceeds to its shareholders. Standard & Poor’s reacted to the sale of retailer Shaw’s by cutting Sainsbury’s rating from A- to BBB; Moody’s placed the name on negative outlook. S&P is assuming that Sainsbury’s, rather than using the remaining proceeds to tackle its