Sainsbury's sells former HQ for £48m

STRUGGLING Sainsbury's has ditched plans for a multi-million pound revamp of its old home in London's Stamford Street, Blackfriars, and is now selling the site for £48m.

The Beetham Organization, a family-owned property development company based in Liverpool, is buying the 375,000 square foot site and will go ahead with its own redevelopment.

Sainsbury's occupied Stamford Street for more than a century before moving to its expensive, glass-fronted building in Holborn in 2001.

It brought in property group Stanhope as its partner in the redevelopment, which was to have included a 20-storey building designed by Foster and Partners.

The scheme would have been worth as much as £200m when completed.

A spokeswoman for Sainsbury's said today it had decided to take advantage of the 'fantastic market conditions' to secure a good price.

Beetham will submit new development plans and Sainsbury's hopes to have a new store there as part of the scheme.

The £48m will boost the supermarkets group's finances, which will have a £550m hole blown in them this year by restructuring charges.

Chief executive Justin King will update the City next week, at its interim results. King has indicated profits will be in the range of £125m-£135m, excluding restructuring.