Sainsbury’s says its plans for expansion are on target following a successful financial year.

Supermarket giant, Sainsbury’s, has reported strong end of year profits for the 52 weeks to 20 March 2010, and says its 127,000 staff will share a bonus pot of over £80 million.

Sainsbury’s, the world’s largest retailer of Fairtrade, said that total sales including fuel were up 5.1% to £21,421m compared to the previous year, with profit before tax up by 57.3% to £733m.

In the past year, the supermarket has added 38 new supermarkets and 51 new convenience stores to its portfolio, and said it is on track to achieve its target of 15% growth in new space by March 2011.

Chief Executive, Justin King, attributed the supermarket’s success to the universal appeal of its healthy, fresh and tasty food. He commented: “Customers recognise the progress we have made in ‘Making Sainsbury’s Great Again’ and now we serve on average over 19 million customers each week. That’s one million more than last year and nearly five million more than five years ago.”

Paying tribute to the 127,000 staff who work at Sainsbury’s store across the UK, Mr King said he is delighted that they should be able to share in a bonus pot estimated to be around £80m. “Colleagues have worked hard to deliver operational excellence resulting in better service and further productivity savings which have contributed to 17.5% growth in underlying profit before tax.”

David Tyler, Chairman, said: “The Board is pleased with the performance of Sainsbury’s over the last year. We have delivered sales growth ahead of the market and good profit growth with underlying earnings per share up over 12%. Our progress in achieving our strategic objectives has been strong, particularly on growing space and developing our complementary non-food offer.”

Earlier this month, Sainsbury’s became the official sponsor of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.