Asda Posts 'Resilient' 2022 Performance

• Resilient trading with strong 5.1% LFL sales growth in H2, with momentum carried into 2023
• Best-performing traditional supermarket during the festive period
• More than 4m customers using Asda Rewards each month earning millions to spend in-store or online

Asda has today published its full year results for the period ending 31st December 2022 and updated investors on the progress it is making towards achieving its long-term goal of becoming the number two supermarket in UK grocery.

Like-for-like sales performance

Sales & Adjusted EBITDA (excluding fuel)

Mohsin Issa, Asda’s co-owner, said: “Asda delivered a highly resilient performance last year. We took a conscious decision to support customers by investing heavily to mitigate the impact of inflation and keep prices as low as possible. Although this contributed to a decline in profitability, it was the right thing to do for our customers and will ultimately help to deliver long-term growth. We are pleased with the strong sales growth we saw H2, driven by investments in value and quality, and this positive momentum has continued into 2023 – with like-for-like growth of 6.8% in February.

“As well as tackling the issues of the day, we also made good progress laying the foundations to restore Asda to the number two position in UK grocery, focusing on giving customers desirable products at affordable prices and the ability to shop with us whenever and however they like.

“Last year saw challenges facing businesses and consumers alike and I am proud of the way Asda colleagues responded to support our customers and communities. They worked incredibly hard throughout the year to serve customers, keep prices in check and to launch new initiatives, like Just Essentials and Kids Eat for £1, to help customers save money.”

Financial update

Asda delivered a resilient financial performance in 2022 and saw strong growth from H2 onwards as price investments and new propositions resonated with customers.

• Total sales (excluding fuel) increased by 0.1% year-on-year to £20.452bn
• Strong upturn in performance in H2, with like-for-like sales 5.1% up on the prior year, driven by price investments and new propositions to support customers with rising living costs
• Best performing traditional supermarket during the festive period, with sales up by 6.4% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to 25th December 2022 (Kantar)
• Positive momentum continued into 2023, with February like-for-like sales 6.8% up year-on-year
• Adjusted EBITDA 24% down year-on-year to £886m, as Asda invested to absorb cost price  inflation and keep prices as low as possible for customers.

Strategic highlights

FY22 was the first full year of ownership under the Issa brothers and TDR, and despite the challenging conditions in the market, Asda delivered a number of key propositions that underpin its long term growth strategy

Helping customers save money

Asda invested across the year to shield shoppers from inflationary pressures, while introducing new propositions that provided tangible and immediate savings for customers;

• Consistently the best-value traditional supermarket throughout 2022, topping the Grocer 33 weekly price comparison survey 37 / 50 times, and the Which? ‘big shop’ price survey every month
• Dropped the price of more than 100 popular branded and own-branded lines by an average of 12% and locked these until the end of the year to give customers more control over their grocery budgets
• Launched Just Essentials, a new value range of 300 products designed to keep households running on the tightest of budgets. This has quickly become a staple in shopping baskets, with more than 10m customers regularly shopping the range in H2 and sales 73% up year-on-year since the launch in May
• Rolled out the Asda Rewards loyalty programme to all stores in August, giving customers the chance to earn pounds rather than points every time they shop. More than 4.2m customers are using the app each month and 37% of total sales are now linked to the loyalty programme.

Creating more convenient ways to shop

Asda is bringing its value and quality to more communities across the UK by giving customers the opportunity to shop whenever and however they like;

• New ‘Asda Express’ convenience brand launched targeting areas where Asda has a limited presence such as residential locations and transport hubs
• First two Asda Express stores opened in Sutton Coldfield and Tottenham Hale in Q4, with a further 30 to follow this year, beginning with Calne in May and Romford train station in June
• To accelerate its growth in the convenience market, Asda acquired 129 convenience stores and attached petrol stations from the Co-op for an enterprise value of £438m. Asda is working collaboratively with the Competition & Markets Authority to obtain regulatory approval for this deal
• 100th Asda on the Move store opened in partnership with EG Group
• Number two in online grocery, with market share reaching a five-year high of 20.2% in Q4, following investments to optimise availability, range and service. 

Making desirable products affordable

Asda continued to revamp its own-brand ranges during 2022, as part of its key strategic priority to make desirable products affordable; 

• The £11m investment in fresh produce to improve the product, packaging and customer experience in store, which began in 2021, continued in Q1 with the roll out of specialist Greengrocers across 250 stores
• Adding more than 2,000 new SKUs to address range gaps and ensure customers can get everything they need when they shop at Asda
• Refresh of meat, fish, poultry and bakery mid-tier categories, with quality improvements on more than 2,000 products and the launch of hundreds of new lines at price points to suit all budgets
• Sales of Asda’s premium Extra Special sales increased by more than 15% year-on-year
• Strong own-brand sales in the second half of the year, with Q4 like-for-like sales growth 11.4% up on the previous year.  

Supporting colleagues & communities

Asda is a purpose-led business that continues to play a key role in the communities it serves;

• Recognising that many communities were disproportionately impacted by the cost of living crisis, two new cafe offers were introduced to provide meaningful support to families and older customers
• Kids Eat for £1 launched in June to help feed children during the school holidays by offering a hot meal any time of for day for just £1, with no adult spend required. This was followed ‘Winter Warmers’ in November for over 60s to enjoy soup, a roll and tea or coffee for £1
• Asda cafes have served more than 1.3m meals since the first offer was launched and Kids Eat for £1 has now been extended until after the Easter holidays  
• Increased pay rates for 123,000 retail colleagues twice in 2022, by 8% in total on an annualised basis, as well as paying a bonus, worth an average of £413 to a full-time hourly paid colleague.
• We are also making a record investment of £141m in retail colleague pay this year to increase hourly rates by 10% to £11.11 from July. The new pay rate exceeds the ‘real living wage’ rates recommended by the Living Wage Foundation.
• This year we are also investing £28m to increase hourly pay rates for 13,000 distribution colleagues by a minimum of 8%.

Source : Asda

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