Asda's market share figures suffered a "disappointing" drop last month, according to the latest Taylor Nelson Sofres figures. Although its year on year market share showed a 1% rise, the month on month market share change dipped 0.7%. Salomon Smith Barney analyst David McCarthy said: "Whether it is a rogue figure due to a statistical quirk or not remains to be seen. Only the figures for the next two to three months can tell that." But Asda dismissed the figures. "We had the same dip last year," a spokesman said. "In terms of sales we are going like a train, with an increase of 10.5% reported for the year to date." Tesco's average three month till market share, rose 16.6% in the year to April 2 ­ its highest ever market share. McCarthy also had praise for Morrisons, which he said continued to outperform the sector, and Iceland with "another solid performance". It was not so good news for the three supermarket chains who have shed their chief executives in the last few months ­ Somerfield, Safeway and Sainsbury. Kwik Save has been blamed for Somerfield's continuing problems, dragging Somerfield's market share from 9.8% to 7.5% in a year. Year on year market share fell 2.3% and month on month by 0.4%. McCarthy says "new management has its work cut out" to restore the fortunes of the company. Sainsbury's has "no indication of any major recovery in sales", and Safeway had "another disappointing month, given that its strategy is designed to drive sales growth", said McCarthy. {{NEWS }}

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