Asda's woes continue as it becomes the only major supermarket to sees sales fall ahead of Xmas
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Asda was the only major supermarket to suffer a slump in sales in the run up to the crucial Christmas trading period. The gloomy update underlined the scale of the job facing the grocer’s returning boss. Research group Kantar said Asda sales in the 12 weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3billion – down 5.6 per cent on the same period a year ago.
The dismal figures laid bare the scale of the group’s decline just weeks after former chief executive Allan Leighton returned to the company to take over from Stuart Rose as executive chairman. Once Britain’s second biggest supermarket, Asda has been flailing since the Issa brothers Mohsin and Zuber joined private equity giant TDR Capital to buy it in a £6.8billion debt-fuelled deal in 2021.
By contrast, sales rose last month at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl. Struggles: Research group Kantar said Asda sales in the 12 weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3bn – down 5.6% on the same period a year ago. Asda has seen its share of the grocery market fall from 14.1 per cent at the time of the takeover to a record low of 12.3 per cent.
It has languished as shoppers headed to rivals, and Aldi is now hot on its heels with 10.3 per cent of the market. That has left Asda fighting to hold on to its position as Britain’s third-biggest supermarket behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s. The business is now pinning its hopes on new leadership.
