Reuters
LONDON (Reuters) -Sainsbury's, Britain's second-largest supermarket group, reported a 3% rise in first-quarter underlying sales on Tuesday, although weather-related weakness in non-food categories partially offset robust demand for groceries, sending its shares lower. The group, which has a UK market share of 15.2% trailing only Tesco, said grocery sales rose 4.8% in the 16 weeks to June 22. However, general merchandise and clothing sales fell 4.3% and sales at the group's Argos business dropped 6.2%, reflecting both poor early summer weather which dented sales of seasonal categories and strength in sales in the same period last year.