Asda

This article is about the British supermarket chain. For other uses, see Asda (disambiguation).

Asda Stores Limited
Asda
Formerly
  • Associated Dairies & Farm Stores (Leeds) Limited[1]
  • Associated Dairies Limited[2]
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
Founded19 February 1949; 75 years ago (1949-02-19)[2] in Knottingley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Founders
HeadquartersLeeds, West Yorkshire, England
Number of locations
829 (2023)[5]
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Lord Rose (Chairman)
Products
BrandsLeon Restaurants
Services
RevenueIncrease £20.4 billion (excluding fuel, 2022)[6]
Decrease £886 million (2022)[6]
Owner
Number of employees
145,000 (2022)[8]
Divisions
  • George
  • Asda Living
Subsidiaries
Websiteasda.com
A bust of co-founder Peter Asquith outside Asda House in Leeds

Asda Stores Limited (/ˈæzdə/), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters are in Leeds, England.[9] The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI Group. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place.[10][11] As of August 2024, its market share in the UK is 12.6 per cent.[12]

Besides its core supermarkets, the company also acts as a white label payment card provider offering assistance for insurance and payment services under the Asda Money brand and also has a mobile virtual network operator.

In February 2021, the Issa brothers and TDR Capital acquired Asda, with Walmart retaining "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship".[13] The deal came after an acquisition by Sainsbury's was rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority.[14][7] As of June 2024, the company is majority owned by TDR Capital following the sale of Zuber Issa's 22.5 per cent holding to the company.

  1. ^ "Incorporation". Companies House. 19 February 1949. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  2. ^ a b "ASDA STORES LIMITED overview – Find and update company information – GOV.UK". Companies House. Retrieved 30 August 2023.
  3. ^ "Our History – ASDA Corporate". Corporate.asda.com. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  4. ^ "Sir Noel Stockdale". The Daily Telegraph. 9 February 2004. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  5. ^ "Store Locator". ASDA Group Limited. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  6. ^ a b Onita, Laura (29 March 2023). "Asda profits slide as supermarket chain cuts prices". Financial Times. Retrieved 19 April 2023.
  7. ^ a b "Issa brothers complete £6.8bn acquisition of Asda from Walmart". Business Insider. 16 February 2021. Archived from the original on 23 November 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  8. ^ "Asda Stores Ltd, Company facts". ASDA Stores Limited. 25 April 2022. Retrieved 29 March 2018.
  9. ^ "Contact the right service team". Asda. Archived from the original on 22 July 2010. Retrieved 20 June 2010.
  10. ^ Sweney, Mark (2 April 2019). "Sainsbury's falls behind Asda to become UK's third biggest supermarket chain". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  11. ^ "Market share of grocery stores in Great Britain for the 12 weeks ending March 29, 2015". Statista. Archived from the original on 17 January 2014.
  12. ^ Cahill, Helen (14 August 2024). "Asda suffers decline in grocery market share". www.thetimes.com. Retrieved 14 August 2024.
  13. ^ "Issa Brothers and TDR Capital Complete the Acquisition of Asda from Walmart". corporate.walmart.com. Archived from the original on 16 February 2021. Retrieved 6 April 2021.
  14. ^ Bourke, Joanna (17 February 2021). "Issa brothers and TDR Capital complete purchase of supermarket chain Asda". Evening Standard.