Asda faces new round of gloomy results

ASDA is set to say it has suffered a second quarter of falling sales onthursday, according to analysts.

The supermarket group, which is owned by US giant Walmart, is likely to report that its sales have suffered due to tougher market conditions this year.

Clive Black, head of research at Shore Capital, said that Asda’s like-for-like sales could be down by as much as 2 per cent: “The comparison between this quarter and last year is much tougher.

“I think they will be a couple of percentage points down. The reason is that last year you had the sun and theworld Cup, which stimulated demand for food and booze.”

He added: “Also as far as spending goes, people are guarded, they are worried about what is coming.”

Under chief executive

Roger Burnley, Asda had been mounting a fightback after suffering from years of falling sales in the cutthroat supermarket price war.

Traditionally the cheapest of the major supermarket groups, Asda had found itself squeezed by German discounters Aldi and Lidl.

However a run of seven consecutive quarters of rising sales came to a halt in May, when it reported a fall of 1.1 per cent, which it blamed on Easter being later this year.