UK supermarket Asda Q3 sales down 0.7% year-on-year

LONDON (Reuters) – British supermarket group Asda reported a fall in underlying sales in its latest quarter, reflecting a tough comparison with the same period last year when sales were boosted by COVID-19 restrictions that meant more meals were consumed at home.

Asda, owned by Zuber and Mohsin Issa and private equity group TDR Capital, said on Monday like-for-like sales excluding fuel fell 0.7% year-on-year in the three months to Sept. 30, its fiscal third quarter, having also fallen 0.7% in its second quarter.

Like-for-like sales were up 2.0% on the same period in 2019, before the pandemic impacted trading.

Total third-quarter revenue was 4.93 billion pounds ($6.56 billion).

Asda has a UK market share of 14.3%, lagging industry leader Tesco and Sainsbury’s.

($1 = 0.7514 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; Editing by Jan Harvey)