Richard Ratner, the late retail analyst, famously remarked that for Justin King and his management team at Sainsbury’s, a Qatari takeover would have been like winning the lottery without buying a ticket.

The £10.6 billion bid, if successful, would have triggered a multi-million pound windfall for the chief executive as well as boardroom colleagues and thousands of staff locked into Save-as-you-Earn plans.

Yet instead of a capital gains problem, Mr King now has the less enviable task of having to boost morale and ensure Sainsbury’s is focused once again on generating sales and closing the gap on Tesco and Asda.

Today’s share price plunge reflects extent of the task ahead and will make life uncomfortable for those at the supermarket who told CVC, the private equity bidder earlier this year, to come back with an offer of at least 600p.

At 465p, the shares sit at a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.5 times, and that is still 10 per cent ahead of Morrisons, which is finally showing some signs of an upturn under its own recovery strategy.

Sainsbury’s has generated eleven consecutive quarters of like-for-like growth but there is a feeling in the industry that Tesco and Asda have begun to pull away once again recently, with Asda annoucing £150 million of price cuts last month.

If doubts over poor returns force even the gas-rich Qataris bail out, the odds of another bid in the short-term are long at best. And Delta Two's presence on the share register with a 25 per cent stake has now turned into an overhang that will weigh on the shares.

Mr King will have to be at his best when presenting Sainsbury’s interim results next week for the share price to get back above 500p anytime soon.

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