Supermarket giant Sainsbury’s has reported its first full-year loss in a decade, due to ongoing competition from other big supermarkets, discounters and online shopping.

Underlying profit before tax was down 14.7% to £681 million, hit by a 1.9% fall in like-for-like sales, with a loss before tax of £72 million compared to £898 million profit last year.

Mike Coupe, chief executive said: "The UK marketplace is changing faster than at any time in the past 30 years which has impacted our profits, like-for-like sales and market share. However, we are making good progress with our strategy, and our investment in price and quality is showing encouraging early signs of volume and transaction growth.

"We know that our customers still want the best quality food at great prices and our strategy is built on our strong foundations of selling great food with a focus on quality, provenance and sustainability. At the same time, we know that our customers want value for money and we have therefore invested in lowering our prices; our prices versus our competitors have never been better.

"We also have significant opportunities to grow our business. Clothing, general merchandise and financial services have all performed well over the past 12 months, as have our convenience and online channels. We have a significant ambition to grow these areas over the coming years.

"Sainsbury's is a fantastic business, run by an experienced management team, supported by great colleagues and underpinned by strong values. I believe we are taking the right decisions to ensure we remain fit for the future and are able to capitalise on our many growth opportunities."

The good news for Sainsbury’s, the third biggest supermarket is that according to Kantar, the data shows that the supermarket’s sales growth is still doing better than the other major supermarkets. Sainsbury’s have also announced that they plan to open eight stores by early 2018.