UK Edition
Asda 'stabilised' as it notches up sales increase
Asda has toasted its second consecutive quarter of growth as a sign that the supermarket had now "stabilised" following plunging sales a year earlier.
The Walmart-owned grocer reported a 1.1pc lift in sales for the three months to 30 September. Last year Asda reported a 5.8pc tumble in sales as it failed to stem the wave of shoppers deserting it for discounters Aldi and Lidl.
Despite sales lifting, growth has slowed down from the 1.8pc reported for the previous quarter. An Asda spokesman said that stripping out Easter would have resulted in a 0.7pc sales rise in the second quarter as he defended the rate of growth.
Walmart president and chief executive Doug McMillon said the sales rise was due to "improvements in store experience and price investments are increasing store basket sizes"
The return to sales growth comes as Asda is due to part ways with chief executive Sean Clarke after just 18 months in the role and 21 years with Walmart. Mr Clarke was parachuted in to run the UK supermarket chain last July in an attempt to reverse Asda's long run of falling sales.
Mr McMillon said thanked the Asda boss "for the tremendous work that he has done over the past year to stabilize the business and position it for growth"
Mr Clarke, who will leave next month said that the "market environment will continue to be challenging into next year but we’re well placed with clear plans and a renewed level of confidence."
Despite the return of inflation food retailers are still under pressure. Marks & Spencer last week announced that it would slow openings of its food shops as the division faced "stronger headwinds" while Sainsbury's said shoppers were "value conscious".
Mr Clarke will be succeeded by former Sainsbury's director Roger Burnley, who left Sainsbury's in 2015 and joined Asda after a year of gardening leave as chief operating officer. He was widely expected to immediately takeover from former Asda boss Andy Clarke, who anointed him as his successor.
Walmart's international boss, David Cheesewright, has insisted that the handover in power had always been in the company's plan. Mr Burnley worked for Asda from 1996 to 2012.