Asda Sales Slide as U.K. Supermarket Falls Further Behind Rivals
- Same-store sales at Wal-Mart unit decline for eighth quarter
- Company ‘addressing this with urgency,’ Wal-Mart CEO says
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U.K. supermarket chain Asda saw a record decline in sales during the second quarter, illustrating the scale of the task facing new Chief Executive Officer Sean Clarke.
Same-store sales tumbled 7.5 percent, excluding gasoline, as the grocer continued to lose ground to discounters and its main competitors. The U.K. market continues to be characterized by “fierce competition and food deflation,” Brett Biggs, chief financial officer of U.S. parent company Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said in a statement Thursday.