British supermarket Sainsbury's to cut 500 jobs

British supermarket group Sainsbury's is to axe 500 jobs as part of a plan to cut costs by 500 million pounds ($760 million, 645 million euros), it announced Tuesday.
The savings will fund future investments and the job cuts will be spread across store support centres, the supermarket said in a statement.
"I recognise that these changes will be difficult for our colleagues and I can assure you the decision to make them was not taken lightly," said chief executive officer Mike Coupe.
"However, I'm certain that we will be in a stronger position to deliver our new strategy and better equipped to win in these times of change as a result."
The group said the reorganisation would be complete by the 2015-16 financial year.
It announced in November that it would seek to reduce costs amid a fierce price war among British supermarkets.
Mid-market groups including troubled supermarket giant Tesco have slashed prices, under pressure from German-owned discounters Aldi and Lidl as well as upmarket food stores.
Both Sainsbury's and Marks and Spencer said sales fell over the key Christmas holiday period.