Cheaper groceries

SIR – Ben Marlow’s piece (“Suppliers are the real victims of Sainsbury’s move for Asda”, Business, July 22) does not reflect the comments of our supplier in the same paper (“Grocery price crunch hands urgent food for thought to suppliers”, Business, July 22). Far from being a victim, the chief executive of one of our longstanding fruit suppliers provides a ringing endorsement of the opportunities the Sainsbury’s-Asda merger presents. Clive Goatham says that he and his team “have no fear over this new future” and “desperately hope that it comes off ”. Our competitive advantage comes from working closely with our suppliers, and we can only be successful if they are too.

To answer Mr Marlow’s question as to who will benefit from the deal, the answer is: our customers. We aim to reduce the price of everyday grocery items by around 10 per cent, lowering the cost of living for millions of British households. Far from being “wild claims”, our ambitions for the deal are to build a business that delivers for customers and colleagues alike in the face of an uncertain retail industry.

Mr Marlow rightly criticised short-term thinking among fund managers in his second comment piece. We hope he will give us some credit for developing a long-term strategy that benefits shareholders and all of our stakeholders. David Tyler Chairman, Sainsbury’s London EC1