Sainsbury (J)

Sainsbury’s has suspended use of Facewatch facial recognition in its East Dulwich store after a customer, Matt Arnold, was wrongly identified as a shoplifter and ejected. The retailer says the incident resulted from human error rather than the technology and has apologised while investigating and retraining staff. Facewatch also defended the system’s alert, citing a 99.98% accuracy rate, but critics and previous misidentifications have prompted calls to disable the system more widely. » More on theguardian.com

Sainsbury’s has agreed to sell Argos to Swift Partners—a vehicle set up by Richard Pennycook, Trevor Strain and Matt Truman—for £120m to refocus on its core food business. The deal, a decade after Sainsbury’s paid about £1.3bn for Argos, is expected to complete in early 2027 with full separation likely by early 2029. Long-term commercial agreements will keep Argos stores in Sainsbury’s, preserve Nectar links and continue sales of Habitat under licence; Sainsbury’s said operations, staff and suppliers will see “business as usual.” » More on theguardian.com

Sainsbury’s reported group sales up 2.7% to £9.1bn in the three months to 20 June, with grocery sales rising 3.6% as the retailer matched Aldi prices and gained market share. The business benefited from hot weather and World Cup demand, recording record weeks for ice‑cream, pizza and salads and higher rapid‑delivery orders. CEO Simon Roberts warned inflation remains uncertain due to geopolitical risks but said food inflation has eased recently; the chain is investing hundreds of millions in refrigeration and expanding facial‑recognition anti‑theft tech. Shares rose after the update despite continued caution on non‑food spending and margin pressure from regulatory costs. » More on theguardian.com