Sainsbury's has lifted its profit guidance for this year after winning customers from Aldi and Lidl for the first time.
The country's second biggest supermarket lifted its underlying profit guidance to between £670million and £700million, from between £640million and £700million.
Underlying pre-tax profits were at £340million for the six-months to September 16, though statutory profits declined to £275million as the supermarket battled to keep prices low.
Second-quarter like-for-like sales, excluding fuel, rose 6.6%, a drop from the 9.8% improvement in the first-quarter.
Simon Roberts, chief executive, said: "We know people are still finding things tough and we’re working harder than ever to reduce our costs, putting the money back into our customers’ pockets through lower prices on the products they buy most often.
"I’m pleased to say food inflation is coming down and we are passing savings on to customers."
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