Sainsbury’s CEO Simon Roberts has warned its prices are set to rise after the government’s decision to raise National Insurance Contributions.

The supermarket boss argued while it would do everything it could to “mitigate the impact,” it just didn’t have “the capacity to absorb this level of unexpected cost inflation”.

He added: “When you think about the £140m in our business, I don’t think you can shy away from the fact that, because of the changes on everyone’s cost base, it is going to beat through into higher inflation.”

Roberts explained its National Insurance costs would increase over 50% year on year, and that it had to “work through the implications of this” with some “some difficult decisions to take as a result”.

The comments follow Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ first Budget in October, where she announced employers’ National Insurance Contributions would increase from 13.8% to 15% on a worker’s earnings above £175 from April 2025.

Sainsbury’s saw its profit edge up in its half year results released today (7 November), as it claimed it had made the “biggest market share gains in industry”.

The grocery giant‘s retail underlying operating profit hit £503m, up 3.7%, driven by strong grocery volume growth, though this was partially offset by a lower contribution from Argos.

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