Asda boss says ‘long way to go' in turnaround as sales fall further
There is a 'long way to go' in Asda's plan to revive the supermarket giant's fortunes, its boss has said.
However, Allan Leighton, who recently rejoined the UK's third largest grocery chain after more than 20 years, said it has seen 'green shoots' in its turnaround efforts.
The retailer, owned by US private equity firm TDR Capital and petrol forecourt billionaire Mohsin Issa, previously said it could take between three and five years to get fully back on track.
Industry figures released earlier this week showed Asda's share of the grocery market has shrunk to 12.1% – it's lowest since Kantar started collecting data in 2011.
The firm has struggled to keep up with larger rivals Tesco and Sainsbury's and come under pressure from fast-growing discounters Aldi and Lidl since its debt-fuelled takeover in 2021.
On Thursday, Mr Leighton said the retailer's 'prices were too high and availability was woeful' before his appointment, leading shoppers to switch.
Earlier this year, the company reduced the prices of more than 10,000 products in its renewed strategy to win over shoppers.
Bosses said the retailer will still follow through with ambitions to keep pricing low across rafts of products despite accelerating food inflation.
The company said it hopes to win back customers across the board but can benefit from bringing its pricing 'closer' to low-priced discounter rivals.
Mr Leighton said: 'Earlier this year we set out a clear ambition to make Asda the number one choice again for value-conscious families.
'To deliver this, we are making a material investment to move our entire range to a new, lower Asda Price by the end of next year.
'Although we are seeing the green shoots in sales performance, there is a long way to go, and we remain firmly focused on widening the price gap over other full-service supermarkets to give customers the savings they expect every time they shop at Asda.'
It came as the Leeds-based retailer reported that total revenues, excluding fuel, fell by 5.9% to £5 billion for the first three months of 2025.
The company said this included a 1.1% impact against last year's extra day trading due to the leap year.
Asda added that like-for-like sales were 3.1% lower for the four months to Easter and this improved further in May.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Chelsea talking to Milan over France keeper Maignan
Chelsea are in talks with AC Milan over signing France goalkeeper Mike Italian club value Maignan at about £25m but the Blues do not want to meet Milan's asking price and are in talks about a lower 29-year-old has been a regular for Milan since joining on a five-year contract from Lille in has also been first choice for France since Hugo Lloris retired from international football in January have told BBC Sport that Maignan would be interested in a move to Stamford have struggled to find a long-term option in goal since buying Kepa Arrizabalaga in 2018 for £71m, which remains the world-record fee for a years later they signed Edouard Mendy, who left for Al-Ahli in 2023, while Kepa has spent the past two seasons on loan at Real Madrid and then the past two years Chelsea have also signed Robert Sanchez, Djordje Petrovic and Filip Jorgensen but the club appear unconvinced by all spent last season on loan at Strasbourg while Sanchez and Jorgensen had spells in the Chelsea first team.
The Sun
an hour ago
- The Sun
I bought an abandoned house with no electric for 75p – I've funded renovations by sharing my DIY online
A YOUNG woman has revealed how she transformed an abandoned house and got paid for it in the process. Tia Weston bought the abandoned property for just 75p and quickly got to work with her dad to turn it into her dream home. 3 3 Taking to YouTube, Tia said: "I'm taking you through the full start to finish process of turning this abandoned house into my dream home. "It had no heat, no water, no electricity and it was used for storage for over 30 years. "It was in such bad shape that at one point it was going to be given to the fire department to be burnt down." She said that in total it cost her £29,000 to renovate the property. While some of the money came from selling her previous home, some of the cash came from sharing the renovation journey online. Through posting the transformation on YouTube she was able to get revenue from advertisements to help fund the cost. Tia and her dad had their work cut out for them, some of the wood on the roof had gone rotten and the flooring was also affected. She also had to pay to get the entire house to have electricity running through it as well as new windows because the house was so old. New plumbing also had to be fitted into the house so that Tia could renovate the bathroom. After the basics were done, Tia moved on to clearing the house out and redecorating the space. 3 Mrs Hinch raves about £2 Home Bargains buy that 'adds charm to your garden' & a £10 product that's 'cheaper than Amazon' The house had been left in disarray and used to store wood and old furniture. But she managed to transform it into a colourful modern space for herself. Inside the house, she used a light, pine wood for the floors, doors and finishes to add some much needed light into the home. She used pastel colours throughout to make it more homely as well. Home upgrades that add the most value to a house The best renovation to add value totally depends on your property, the local market and your potential buyers. Zoopla shared a list of upgrades that will instantly add value to your home. Loft conversion - increase of 15% Off-street parking - adds £50,000 to property price New kitchen - increase of 15% Garage conversion - increase of 15% Cellar or basement conversion - increase of 10-15% Open plan living space - increase of 3-5% New bathroom - increase of 3-5% The transformation had left people stunned and they were quick to praise Tia and her dad for their hard work. One person wrote: "The coolest part is that you did this all with your dad. You will always hold this memory in your heart." Another commented: 'I am a 61-year-old lifetime remodeler. You did a GREAT job young lady!" "Well done. You've done an amazing job," penned a third. Meanwhile a fourth said: "I wish more people would renovate instead of tearing down older houses. You all did such a great job!" Someone else added: 'The contrast between where you started and where you ended up is insane! Your hard work has really paid off."
BBC News
an hour ago
- BBC News
Greater Lincolnshire mayor Andrea Jenkyns in the BBC hot seat
The Greater Lincolnshire mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns has been in the hot seat on BBC Radio Reform UK representative was elected last month after recieving 42% of the Andrea was taking questions from presenter Carla Greene, as well as those from are the four big takeaways from what she had to say – and you can listen to the full interview on BBC Sounds. 1. Trade college to be built Matthew Burke from Grimsby wants to see more job opportunities in North East Lincolnshire. The 33-year-old said: "Look at what other cities are doing and just try and bring that to Grimsby."Bringing investment to the local area is a key role of the Greater Lincolnshire Andrea announced she wanted to build a trade college in the area. She said: "We know right across the country we've got a shortage of plasterers, plumbers, builders. "Lecturers make more money in the private sector than actually teaching so we need to look at that skills gap." 2. Fair funding across the region Dame Andrea was asked specifically what she would be doing to help people in Northern responded: "I don't have this silo approach".The mayor was keen to stress that she would not be favouring one part of the region over another and said her role would help to bring a better said: "The good thing about a mayor is that you've got an overview of the whole county so you can ensure fair funding across the area."You can't have one part missing out." 3. Improvements to the care sector Corrina Pett is a mental health support worker in North Lincolnshire. She said she wanted to see more unemployed people trained to help fill the gaps in the care said: "There shouldn't be a shortage with the amount of unemployed people here."Dame Andrea said she wanted to change attitudes towards the sector."These are valuable roles and they're not to be looked down on."It's about working with the councils, colleges and care providers to ensure school leavers see this career as a viable option." 4. Transport plans Bill, a BBC Radio Humberside listener, asked why the East Yorkshire and Lincolnshire area missed out on billions of pounds worth of investment for transport Rachel Reeves announced on Wednesday funding for tram, train and bus schemes in mayoral authorities across the Midlands, the North and the West Andrea Jenkyns said she wanted to come up with a fully costed transport plan for Greater Lincolnshire and promised to fight the business case for more transport investment for the said: "The Government has given money where they've got Labour mayors and this is why we need to clean up politics."The mayor made transport one of the key pillars of her election campaign by pledging to create investment in major roads such as the A15, A52 and A17, along with "proper integration between buses, trains and cars".HM Treasury for a comment. Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.
