Asda is the UK’s third biggest grocer with fewer but larger stores than its main rivals. As such, non-food is also a key part of the offer, underpinned by its George clothing and homeware brand.
Priorities for 2024 include nailing value to support customers in the cost-of-living crisis and catching up in convenience, where it has been well behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
With its Every Day Low Price (EDLP) and Rollback price reduction programmes contributing to its status as the most value-focused of the big mainstream players, Asda has come under most pressure from the discounters in the prolonged period of high inflation. It has upped investment in price in a bid to claw back share, including the introduction of a more extensive value range under the Just Essentials banner, as well as a new Rewards loyalty programme.
Among other challenges facing Asda, its senior team has been decimated following the highly leveraged acquisition of the business by global convenience and forecourts retail specialist EG Group and its founders the Issa brothers in 2021. Mohsin Issa had been running the business himself after former CEO Roger Burnley left in the wake of the ownership change, with spiralling debt a huge cause for concern. However, in September 2024 Asda announced that Mohsin Issa was stepping back from his Asda executive leadership role. Asda chairman Lord Stuart Rose and Rob Hattrell, who is a partner at TDR Capital and director on the Asda board, took over the day-to-day running of Asda. Mohsin Issa remains co-owner of Asda, along with private equity business TDR Capital, and is still a non-executive on the board. Rose has taken on Mohsin Issa’s executive responsibilities at Asda on an interim basis until a permanent chief executive is found.
In November 2025 the grocer confirmed former boss Allan Leighton’s return as executive chair.
In a convoluted deal, Asda has now acquired EG Group’s UK and Ireland operations, covering 350 EG petrol station sites, in a move which extended the grocer’s convenience estate to around 700 locations, but has seen it taking on an extra £770m of loan debt.
The grocer said the acquisition would strengthen its financial profile, creating a group with combined revenues of around £28bn.
As Asda continued to accelerate its c-store growth strategy it had converted all 470 convenience sites acquired from the Co-op and EG Group to Asda Express stores by early 2024. This took its convenience portfolio from three to almost 500 stores in the space of six months.
In a transaction set to complete in the third quarter of 2024 TDR Capital, which bought the business alongside the two Issa brothers in 2021, became an Asda majority owner after it acquired Zuber Issa’s share in the business. Mohsin Issa remains co-owner, alongside TDR Capital.
Financial position
Sales excluding fuel and VAT grew 7.1% year on year to £21.90bn in the year to December 2023, with like-for-like sales up 5.4%.
In terms of total sales, an uptick in retail sales growth partly offset a decline in fuel sales.
Asda’s recent performance has been aided by its pricing and loyalty initiatives, although this has heaped pressure on the bottom line.
Further challenges have included supply side inflation, wage hikes and increased spend on separating from former owner Walmart’s IT systems, with Asda Stores only marginally profitable at the operating level and loss-making pre-tax in FY2022.
