LONDON, (Reuters) – British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s has increased its full-year profit outlook by at least 9% after stronger than anticipated food sales over Christmas. However, it was still below its outstanding 2020 performance.

When Christmas 2020 was locked down, UK supermarkets had to make tough comparisons with the boom in food and beverage sales.

Although restrictions were not as severe for Christmas 2021, supermarkets still enjoyed the benefits of consumer anxiety over the Omicron variant spreading. This kept them from restaurants and bars.

Now, the group forecasts a full year 2021-22 of underlying profits before tax at “at minimum” 720 million Pounds ($981.5 Million) as compared to previous projections of “at best” 660mln and 356 million Pounds in 2020-21.

Sainsbury’s stated that its group like-forlike sales fell by 4.5% year on year in the third quarter. This compares to a decrease of 1.4% in Q2.

Britain’s no. Tesco’s second-largest supermarket, Tesco (OTC) reported that grocery sales declined 1.1% year-over-year in the third quarter but rose 6.6% in the same time period in 2019-20 before the pandemic.

“I was really happy with the Christmas delivery we made for our customers.” Simon Roberts, Chief Executive Officer said that there was more home cooking and that our substantial investment in quality, innovation, and service resulted in market share growth.

General merchandise sales at Sainsbury’s fell by 16% in the past year. This is due to a weak performance, limited product availability, and an emphasis on profit-oriented sales including fewer promotional offers. Clothing sales declined 2.7%

The group said its profit upgrade reflected investment and higher operating cost inflation being offset by cost savings and stronger-than-expected grocery volumes, driven in part by increased in-home consumption.

Argos’ general merchandise business also continued to enjoy stronger margins, supported by cost savings. Profit expectations for its financial services business ran ahead of analyst consensus. Bad debts were lower than anticipated and loan volumes are beginning to recover.

Sainsbury’s stock closed Tuesday closing at 279.3 pence. This was buoyed in part by speculation about bids.

($1 = 0.7336 pounds)