That’s Asda price – £6bn to Walmart

US SUPERMARKET giant Walmart has extracted close to £6billion from Asda in dividends and fees, according to an analysis of its accounts and results.

Last week Asda revealed that it had paid Walmart more than £2.9billion in dividends in 2020, its last year of ownership. Walmart sold the retailer to petrol forecourt billionaires the Issa brothers and private equity group TDR Capital in October for £6.8billion.

Asda paid £1.65billion in cash and transferred £1.27billion of assets to Walmart last year as dividend payments. The £1.65billion cash payment is the biggest Walmart has taken out of Asda, three times the size of the previous largest payout, which was £566.8million back in 2016.

Combined with the £2.7billion in cash dividends, royalties and fees for

IT support and other services it paid its former US parent, the total taken out of Asda by Walmart since 1999 comes to around £6billion.

Asda employs more than 100,000 and according to the GMB union it has been weakened by the payouts to Walmart and by its new owners.

To fund their purchase, the Issas and TDR have borrowed billions at high interest rates and loaded the debt on to Asda. They are also selling off its properties and leasing them back to help finance their takeover.

Roger Jenkins, GMB national officer, said: “The loyal Asda workforce are left worrying what will become of their livelihoods once the cupboard is bare. Asda is a profitmaking supermarket with a proud history. It deserves better.”