Asda issues warning over uk supermarket stores and says 'unlikely'

SALES AT UK’S THIRD LARGEST SUPERMARKET FELL 3.1 PER CENT IN THE FOUR MONTHS TO APRIL. 08:54, 01 Jun 2025 Asda is unlikely to see growth before year-end at earliest, a supermarket boss has

warned. Sales at UK’s third largest supermarket fell 3.1 per cent in the four months to April. Underlying sales at Asda fell 3.1% in the four months to the end of April compared with the

same period a year before. Allan Leighton said Asda was seeing “green shoots” as the pace of decline had eased from the previous quarter. “We have made real progress but there is a long way

to go,” he said. “We are still down and we have to get up,” Leighton said. “We could price up and do promotions to get the sales line up, but this is a three- to five-year plan and we are

creating something enduring.” READ MORE LLOYDS BANK BRINGS IN BIG CHANGE AND ANYONE WHO IS IN A 'COUPLE' WILL BENEFIT “The plan is, towards the end of the year, to return to

top-line growth and get more units in people’s baskets, up the price gap [with rivals] and improve availability,” Leighton said. Article continues below He said on Thursday that the group

had already reduced the price of 10,000 products and was “inflating behind the rest of the market by about 2%”. Giles Hurley, the boss of Aldi in the UK, said the business was committed to

remaining the cheapest whatever its rivals did. “The price gap with the competition is as big as ever,” he said. It comes as Aldi is set to open ten new stores over the next 14 weeks, while

a further 30 stores will undergo a refresh. Article continues below The UK’s fourth-largest supermarket, which now has more than 1,050 stores, will be opening new stores in areas such as

Oldbury in the West Midlands, Fulham Broadway in London and Brighouse in West Yorkshire. Leighton said Asda could fight back as it was a “very different proposition” to both the discounters

and mainstream supermarkets – with George clothing a key part of the plan. “George is going to be the number one brand by volume in clothing in the next three years,” he said.