Asda’s woes proceed because it turns into the one main grocery store to sees gross sales fall forward of Xmas

Asda was the only major supermarket to suffer a slump in sales in the run up to the crucial Christmas trading period.

The gloomy update underlined the scale of the job facing the grocer’s returning boss.

Research group Kantar said Asda sales in the 12 weeks to December 1 fell to £4.3billion – down 5.6 per cent on the same period a year ago.

The dismal figures laid bare the scale of the group’s decline just weeks after former chief executive Allan Leighton returned to the company to take over from Stuart Rose as executive chairman.

Once Britain’s second biggest supermarket, Asda has been flailing since the Issa brothers Mohsin and Zuber joined private equity giant TDR Capital to buy it in a £6.8billion debt-fuelled deal in 2021. 

By contrast, sales rose last month at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Aldi and Lidl.

Struggles: Research group Kantar said Asda 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 grocery market fall from 14.1 per cent at the time of the takeover to a record low of 12.3 per cent.

It has languished as shoppers headed to rivals, and Aldi is now hot on its heels with 10.3 per cent of the market. 

That has left Asda fighting to hold on to its position as Britain’s third-biggest supermarket behind Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

The business is now pinning its hopes on new leadership.

Leighton, 71, made his name as Asda boss between 1996 and 2001. His tenure included the company’s £6.7billion sale to US giant Walmart in 1999.

One task at the top of his list will be the appointment of a full-time chief executive. Asda has been trying to hire one for more than three years.

Morrisons, which is also owned by private equity having been bought by Clayton Dubilier & Rice for £7billion in October 2021, has also seen its market share plunge.

It now holds 8.6 per cent against 8.7 per cent last year.

But it was good news for Britain’s biggest supermarket. Tesco has seen its share of the market jump to a seven-year high of 28.1 per cent.