British supermarket group Sainsbury’s said on Thursday up to 3,500 jobs were at risk in a restructuring that will see it close 420 standalone Argos stores and shut down all in-store meat, fish and deli counters. Sainsbury’s said it aimed to find alternative roles for as many impacted employees as possible, pointing out it had hired 52,000 since March. The group reported a loss before tax of 137 million pounds ($178 million) for the 28 weeks to Sept. 19, reflecting 438 million pounds of one-off costs associated with the Argos closures and other strategic changes introduced by Simon Roberts, who succeeded Mike Coupe as chief executive in June. He plans to refocus on Sainsbury’s core food business, lowering prices, accelerating food innovation and growing online grocery services. Roberts also wants to increase the rate of new convenience store and neighbourhood hub openings over the next three years. “We will put food back at the heart of Sainsbury’s,” he said. “Our other brands – Argos, Habitat, Tu, Nectar and Sainsbury’s Bank – must deliver for their customers and for our shareholders in their own right.” Underlying pretax profit was 301 million pounds.