--- title: "Asda in ‘foothills of recovery’ as grocer returns to growth" type: "News" locale: "en" url: "https://longbridge.com/en/news/297329797.md" description: "Asda reported its first sales growth in over two years, with like-for-like food sales rising 0.7% in the seven weeks to mid-August. This marks a milestone in Chairman Allan Leighton's turnaround strategy. Despite Q2 revenue growth of 0.4% to £6.5bn, the company faces intense competition from Aldi and Lidl, fragile consumer confidence, and significant debt. Asda aims to further strengthen its position through upcoming partnerships with Ocado and Amazon Ad Services." datetime: "2026-08-28T13:01:46.000Z" locales: - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/297329797.md) - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297329797.md) - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/297329797.md) generator: "portal-rs" --- # Asda in ‘foothills of recovery’ as grocer returns to growth Friday 28 August 2026 2:00 pm | Updated: Friday 28 August 2026 11:04 am Add as a preferred source on Google Asda has notched sales growth as it battles with a hefty debt pile Asda has posted sales growth for the first time in more than two years, marking a “major milestone” in the turnaround led by Allan Leighton on his comeback at the grocer. The discount supermarket saw like-for-like sales excluding fuel grow by 0.2 per cent in the seven weeks to mid-August. Like-for-like food sales jumped by 0.7 per cent. Asda has faced significant market share losses in recent years as it contends with intense competition from German discounters Aldi and Lidl and struggles to boost sales volume. In November 2024, the grocer called on Leighton to lead its turnaround as chairman. The former Royal Mail and Co-op boss had served as Asda’s chief executive during its 90s heyday and orchestrated its £6.7bn sale to Walmart. Leighton described Asda’s return to growth as a “major milestone for Asda” following 18 months of “hard work to strengthen our proposition, improving price, availability and the overall shopping experience. “While this progress is encouraging, we are still in the foothills of recovery. There’s still more work to do as we focus on building a stronger business for the long term.” Asda also revealed its sales figures for the second quarter of 2026, which saw like-for-like sales fall by 2.3 per cent. Food sales dropped by 1.9 per cent. The grocer increased its total revenue by 0.4 per cent to £6.5bn in the second quarter. This growth has accelerated in recent weeks, gaining 2.1 per cent year on year. The supermarket’s market share losses have steadied in recent months, with its share holding at 11.5 per cent, according to Worldpanel by Numerator. ## Asda battles shaky consumer confidence Aldi and Lidl have leapfrogged Asda rival Morrisons into the top five in recent months, sitting behind Asda on 10.8 and 8.8 per cent of the market respectively. Michael Gleeson, Asda’s finance chief, said the grocer is contending with fragile consumer confidence as it battles to boost its market share. He said: “A challenging geopolitical and economic backdrop continued to weigh on consumer confidence and household budgets during Q2. “Despite these pressures, our continued investment in price and the overall customer proposition means we continue to make steady progress in our turnaround journey.” Asda is set to kick off the pilot for its partnership with home delivery firm Ocado before the end of 2026. The group will also roll out a collaboration with Amazon Ad Services later this year, which it says will “deliver a more personalised online shopping experience for customers”. Private equity firm TDR Capital bought Asda in 2021. The grocer has struggled with a hefty debt pile since its takeover, though its net debt fell from £4.1bn to £3.5bn in the year to December 2025. In the same period, Asda’s pre-tax loss widened by 65 per cent to £989m. ### Related Stocks - [OCDO.UK](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/OCDO.UK.md) - [WMT.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/WMT.US.md) - [AMZN.US](https://longbridge.com/en/quote/AMZN.US.md) ## Related News & Research - [Amazon Stock Continues to Slide After FTC Lawsuit](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297687305.md) - [Amazon sued by FTC and over 20 US states](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297552276.md) - [Ocado confirms Denmark's nemlig as latest European partner](https://longbridge.com/en/news/296479894.md) - [Legacy Private Trust Co. Sells 2,469 Shares of Amazon.com, Inc. $AMZN](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297397929.md) - [Amazon disputes FTC claims over Sponsored Ads auction practices](https://longbridge.com/en/news/297555131.md) --- > **Disclaimer: This article is for reference only and does not constitute any investment advice.**