Asda’s second quarter sales grew 0.4% year on year, parent company Walmart announced today.
Asda CEO Roger Burnley claimed the figure, covering the period 1 April to 30 June, showed there was “continued momentum” in Asda’s recovery, with the results the fifth consecutive period of positive growth.
However, the performance is a slowdown on the 3.4% like-for-like sales increase reported in the first quarter of the year,
Asda said removing the impact of the early Easter, like-for-like sales in the latest quarter grew by 2.6% and without Easter the sales increase would have been 1% in Q1.
Walmart president and CEO Doug McMillon described the results, which come ahead of a looming probe by the Competition & Markets Authority into Asda’s proposed merger with Sainsbury’s, as “positive”.
“We’re focused on improving the experience in our stores and providing great value for customers through lower prices, especially within our private label offerings,” he said.
Burnley pointed to Asda’s improved market share, which saw it record a 12.5% slice of total grocery sales, according to the latest Kantar Worldpanel figures.
He said: “Our Q2 performance shows continued momentum for 2018 and this is the first quarter we have outperformed the market since 2014.
“We remain focused on delivering our strategic priorities and investing in the areas that matter most to our customers - innovation in our own brand, lowering prices and in continuously improving our shopping experience both in store and online.
“We welcomed an additional 285,000 customers to our stores over the quarter and grew online sales by 13.2% - and I am grateful to our colleagues for all their hard work.
“Whilst we’ll never be complacent I am pleased that we continue to work hard to do the right things for our customers, and are focused on providing the best possible shopping experience as we head into the second half of the year.”
Among highlights in the results, Asda said it had seen a 13.2% growth in online grocery sales and 24.9% growth in George.com sales in the period.
Walmart chief financial officer Brett Biggs said: “Asda is improving its relative position within the UK grocery market, and we saw improvement sequentially in market share trends.”
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