ASDA sales fell 3.1 per cent in the four months to the end of April — but its chairman insists the turnaround is on.
And Allan Leighton urged Sun readers to come back to see the UK’s third largest grocery chain’s revitalised stores.
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He told The Sun: “We’ve lowered prices and improved availability of products.
“We’ve got a long way to go to be back to where we were, but we’re getting there.”
The veteran boss, now 72, returned to Asda six months ago to try to turn around the business.
It has struggled since a £6.8billion buyout by Blackburn brothers Mohsin and Zuber Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital in 2021.
TDR bought out Zuber Issa’s stake last June.
Leighton was last chief exec of the chain in 2000, but left to become chairman of Royal Mail and later the Co-op.
Since returning, he has reintroduced Asda prices on 10,000 products and his discounting effectively started a fresh price war.
His aim, he said, is to offer goods at around 7 per cent lower than rivals, but said Asda has so far hit only the 3 per cent mark.
His other main focus has been on improving availability of products, making sure the goods people want are on the shelves.
Availability was less than 90 per cent when he returned last November.
But his changes have now improved that to 96 per cent.
Mr Leighton admitted: “We’ve started our work by looking after our existing customers. They lost trust because pricing was poor and availability was poor.”
Now he wants to start attracting new shoppers and those who switched to another supermarket.
His message to Sun readers is: “If you’ve not been with us for a while, come have another look.”
He said despite his age he is rolling up his sleeves to get the job done and reckons it will take between three and five years.
Once he is happy with the turnaround, he said the chain will look for a new chief executive.
In positive news, sales of the group’s George clothing ranges were up 3.5 per cent in established stores.
Petrol forecourt and convenience store sales were also up after fuel prices fell.
Supermarket figures released earlier this week showed Asda’s share of the grocery industry has shrunk to 12.1 per cent.
The figure is the lowest since analysts Kantar started collecting data in 2011.
German discount chain Aldi, in fourth with an 11.1 per cent share, is now breathing down its neck — putting Asda’s position as the UK’s number three under pressure.
New car sales go up a gear
NEW car sales in the UK grew three per cent last year, according to figures from Auto Trader.
The expansion was driven by sales of company or “fleet” vehicles.
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But sales to consumers fell four per cent over the year.
And the number of vehicles manufactured in the UK fell last month to the lowest April figure for more than 70 years.
Factories hit by trade tariffs and the timing of Easter turned out just 59,203 vehicles in the month.
But UK new car sales could be boosted by the international trade war, reckons Auto Trader boss Nathan Coe.
He said Britain could benefit if higher import duties mean it becomes cheaper for global manufacturers to export vehicles to the UK.
He said: “If it’s more expensive to export cars to other countries, it could well be the UK is a place where we find a few more new cars coming this way.”
£25billion megapot
THE Chancellor has revealed plans to create £25billion pension “megafunds” which will have to invest in the UK to help fuel economic growth.
An industry overhaul will let pension funds consolidate with others.
Successful schemes in Australia and Canada see funds invested in infrastructure projects and big business.
Rachel Reeves said it would boost people’s pension pots with greater investment in clean energy and UK high-growth businesses.
Named and shamed on wage
PIZZA EXPRESS, Lidl, British Airways and Capita are among firms named and shamed for failing to pay some of their staff the minimum wage.
They were on a Government list of 518 employers and businesses found to have underpaid workers over several years.
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Pay for nearly 60,000 fell short of the national minimum wage, or national living wage, according to the Department for Business and Trade.
At outsourcing company Capita, 5,543 workers were underpaid about £208 each on average.
It said there were “inadvertent underpayments” between 2015 and 2021 but it had repaid the money to staff.
Pizza Express failed to pay about £90 on average to 8,470 workers.
The chain said it was a “historic unintentional technicality, which occurred between 2012 and 2018”, and it was quickly rectified.
British Airways failed to pay an average of £107 to 2,165 workers.
It said it accidentally “slightly underpaid” some of its cabin crew who joined between 2014 and 2017, but had made backdated payments to those affected.
Society’s 30% leap
NATIONWIDE Building Society said profits leapt 30 per cent to £2.3billion in the year to the end of March, during which time it completed the takeover of Virgin Money.
The mutual group said it paid out a record £1billion to members in rewards during the year, with more than four million customers handed £100.
Nationwide’s £2.9billion takeover of Virgin Money made it the UK’s second largest mortgages and savings provider.
It said integration of the acquisition was “progressing well” but boss Debbie Crosbie added: “It’s too early to say if there’ll be an impact on the workforce.”
O’Leary’s £84million
RYANAIR chief Michael O’Leary is in line for a bonus worth more than £84million after shares in the budget airline hit a value target.
Shares closed yesterday above 21 euros for a 28th consecutive day, meeting a goal set in 2019.
Mr O’Leary said earlier this month: “I think we’re delivering exceptional value for Ryanair shareholders in an era when Premiership footballers and managers get paid 20 to 25million a year.”
To take advantage of the share deal, O’Leary, 64, needs to stay at Ryanair until 2028.
Chip off the AI block
AI chip-maker Nvidia’s sales almost doubled in a year, climbing from £16.4billion to £32.7billion.
It is the second most valuable listed company in the world, behind Microsoft, but share prices slumped last month owing to Trump’s trade war.
Ten-pin boiling
HOLLYWOOD BOWL has blamed the warm weather for a fall in bookings this spring.
The ten-pin bowling chain said it took a short-term hit from March to May — the sunniest spring on record.
Its pay bill also bounced up £2.6million to £24.9million following April’s minimum wage increases.
Profits fell by 9.4 per cent to £28million in the past six months but revenues still rose slightly, as customers spent more per game.
Boss Stephen Burns said: “We’re well positioned for the key summer holiday period.”
