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Fashion United
22-05-2025
- Business
- Fashion United
Asda reportedly mulling 400 million pound sale of stores
British supermarket giant Asda is believed to be looking into selling 20 of its stores for around 400 million pounds in order to back its turnaround plan. According to Green Street News, the retailer is said to be planning to offload the stores and lease them back for the next 20 years. The media outlet reported that Asda has enlisted property advisor Eastdil Secured to oversee the sale. In a statement to Green Street, a spokesperson for Asda said: 'Sale-and-leasebacks have been a feature of the retail industry for many years. 'While maintaining a strong freehold base remains central to Asda's property strategy, we will consider suitable opportunities to unlock value from our property portfolio as part of our material programme of investment into the business.' The move comes shortly after chairman Allan Leighton returned to Asda after a 20-year hiatus, bringing with him the mission of strengthening price position and establishing better customer perception of value. It was around this time, November 2024, when Asda also made a series of redundancies, with approximately 475 staff believed to have been impacted by the cuts. In the year December 31, 2024, the company had reported a revenue decline of 0.8 percent to 21.7 billion pounds, as increased competition resulted in market share loss. FashionUnited has contacted Asda with its own request to comment.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Asda plots £400m store sell-off to raise cash
Asda is planning to sell about 20 supermarket stores for £400m to generate more cash for the business. The supermarket chain is looking to offload the stores, which are located across the country, and lease them back for around 20 years. It has appointed property adviser Eastdil Secured to seek out buyers, according to property-focused publication Green Street News. Sale-and-leaseback deals are popular among major supermarkets as a means of raising capital to shore up their balance sheets. Sainsbury's sold and leased back some of its supermarkets for £500m in 2022, while Morrisons completed a £220m deal with asset manager ICG during the same year. In Asda's case, the retailer has been saddled with a hefty £3.8bn debt pile after a £7bn takeover in 2021 by private equity firm TDR Capital and brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa. Zuber stepped down as co-chief executive in June, selling his stake in the retailer to TDR. Mohsin followed suit in stepping down from his leadership role in September, but kept his shares. Allan Leighton, a former chief executive of Asda, returned to the business in November after a 24-year absence, to help turn its fortunes around. His strategy has included launching a fresh supermarket price war, which involves funding price cuts, improving the availability of products and refreshing tired stores. Analysts have estimated that the company's plans will cost close to £900m over the next three years. Leighton has warned that Asda's profits will suffer a 'material hit' this year to fund that investment drive, along with cuts to jobs and bonuses. Despite Asda's debt pressures, Mr Leighton appears to be relaxed about the issue. He said in March: 'People always ask me about the balance sheet, but I'm not over-concerned about it. 'Most of our [debt] maturity dates have been pushed well out [into the future]. The only time I'd ever be concerned about [it is] if I felt that was restricting us investing in the business.' He also continues to search for a new chief executive for the business. An Asda spokesman said: 'Sale-and-leasebacks have been a feature of the retail industry for many years. 'While maintaining a strong freehold base remains central to Asda's property strategy, we will consider suitable opportunities to unlock value from our property portfolio as part of our material programme of investment into the business.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Daily Mirror
21-05-2025
- Business
- Daily Mirror
Asda to sell off 20 supermarket stores to raise £400million
The supermarket reportedly plans to offload the stores and lease them back for around 20 years and Asda has appointed property advisor Eastdil Secured to manage the sale Asda is planning to sell around 20 stores in order to raise £400million. The supermarket reportedly plans to offload the stores and lease them back for around 20 years. Asda has appointed property advisor Eastdil Secured to manage the sale, according to Green Street News. An Asda spokesman said: 'Sale-and-leasebacks have been a feature of the retail industry for many years. 'While maintaining a strong freehold base remains central to Asda's property strategy, we will consider suitable opportunities to unlock value from our property portfolio as part of our material programme of investment into the business.' It comes after Allan Leighton returned to the supermarket last November after 25 years to help with a major turnaround plan. In March this year, the new chief executive warned there would be no 'quick fix' to get the supermarket back on track after its total sales, excluding fuel, hit £21.7 billion last year – down 0.8% from the year before. It ended the year with net debt of £3.8 billion, and about £800,000 cash on its balance sheet. Some of the measures he has introduced include Asda bringing back its Rollback pricing scheme, which saw the prices of more than 4,000 products in store and online slashed by an average of 25%. Mr Leighton said its sales last year were 'disappointing' and its profit was 'OK-ish', adding: 'Obviously there are one or two things that we need to fix: our pricing, our availability, and our range architecture – that has all started … we're starting to make some progress. 'We're flagging a significant investment back into the business, and that is going to materially reduce our profit in the short term as we rebuild the business and we rebuild our market share.' Asda previously said it expects business costs to surge by between £75million and £80million after changes to National Insurance and minimum wage. Mr Leighton said: 'Like everybody else, we have to face into that. We're managing those cost headwinds, but at the same time investing significantly in the growth of the company. 'That's why we flagged it will have a material impact on our profitability, because we're determined to invest in the company for the mid and long term, not for the short term.'
