Asda was the only major supermarket to experience a drop in sales over the Christmas trading period.
A dark note indicates the amount of work that the owner of the dealer is facing.
Research group Kantar said Asda’s sales in the 12 weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3 billion – down 5.6 per cent on the same period a year earlier.
The grim figures revealed the group’s massive decline just weeks after former chief executive Allan Leighton returned to the company to replace Stuart Rose as executive chairman.
Britain’s second-biggest supermarket, Asda has been torn apart since Issa’s brothers Mohsin and Zuber joined private equity firm TDR Capital in a £6.8bn buyout of the debt repayment in 2021.
However, sales rose last month at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.
Battles: Research group Kantar said Asda’s sales in the 12 weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3bn – down 5.6% on the same period a year ago.
Asda has seen its share of the retail market drop from 14.1 per cent at the time of the takeover to a low of 12.3 per cent.
It has softened as consumers face competition, and Aldi is now on fire with 10.3 percent of the market.
That left Asda fighting to retain its position as Britain’s third-largest supermarket behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
Now the business is pinning its hopes on the new leader.
Leighton, 71, was named Asda’s boss between 1996 and 2001. During his tenure the company was sold to US giant Walmart for £6.7 billion in 1999.
One of the tasks at the top of his list is appointing a permanent principal. Asda has been trying to hire one for more than three years.
Morrisons, which was bought privately by Clayton Dubilier & Rice for £7 billion in October 2021, has also seen its market share decline.
It now holds 8.6 percent against 8.7 percent last year.
But there is good news for Britain’s biggest supermarket. Tesco has seen its market share jump to a seven-year high of 28.1 per cent.
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