Sainsbury’s sells AFS cards portfolio to NewDay Group

Sainsbury’s said on Thursday that it has agreed to sell the Argos Financial Services (AFS) cards portfolio to NewDay Group for £720m.

The supermarket chain also announced the creation of a partnership with NewDay to create an Argos-branded digital credit proposition. In time, this will replace the current Argos card credit propositions "with a wider choice of modern, flexible and more convenient ways for customers to manage the cost of purchases," it said.

In June, Sainsbury’s announced the sale of its bank’s personal loan, credit card and retail deposit portfolios to NatWest Group, while in September, Sainsbury's Bank's ATM business was sold to NoteMachine.

Sainsbury’s said that coupled with the transaction announced with NewDay today, these are consistent with its continued focus on the core retail business and will allow it "to continue to benefit from financial services income streams that have a stronger connection to our retail offer".

Chief executive Simon Roberts said: "As we make progress with the plan for Next Level Sainsbury's, this is a key milestone in building our future model for Financial Services. It's really important we work with partners who share our values and customer focus.

"NewDay is a complementary fit for us as we strive to give customers at Argos the best value and choice and make it as easy as possible for them to buy the products they need."