Sainsbury's has posted a big fall in pre-tax profit, after spending millions on keeping prices low for two years.

The UK's second biggest supermarket chain revealed it has spent more than £560m on keeping costs down for shoppers, as reported by Retail Gazette.

In the year ending March 4, sales were up 5.3% to £31.491bn, but profit before tax was £327m - a big drop from £854m at the same time last year.

Underlying pre-tax profit was £690m for the year, down from the £730m made in 2021-22. It has predicted profits of between £640m and £700m for the current financial year.

Sainsbury's said its focus on value has never been better and it is 'now the best value compared to our competitors that we have been in many years'.

It has also increased pay for staff three times in the last year, investing £225 million in supporting colleagues and becoming the first major supermarket to pay the Living Wage across the whole country, as well as providing free food at work.