But the point is that profits jolly well should be improving given the vast capital expenditure bill, which runs at about £1bn a year (almost 1m square feet of trading space will be added this financial year). McCarthy pointed out in a recent note that Sainsbury's market capitalisation (£6.2bn) is close to the total sum of capital it has spent in the last five years (£5.3bn). That's almost the definition of a company that it is having to reinvent itself at rate of knots. Or, in McCarthy's description, Sainsbury's and the other quoted supermarkets are running up an escalator that's going down. Sainsbury's, to give it full credit, is running faster than its major rivals. It is demonstrably outperforming a horrible market for mainstream supermarkets, has the right strategy and has gained market share during King's eight years at the helm. Thank goodness he pledged today to hang around for the "long term", investors might reflect. Quite right, too. But medium-term prospects look rough for everybody.