Asda loses more execs, non-food sales rise as Missguided link starts

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 6, 2021

Asda has issued its first trading statement for a full quarter since it was taken over the Issa brothers and it has also revealed that two more senior executives have quit the firm. The news comes as it dives even deeper into the fashion sector with a new Missguided link-up.

Following the speedy departure of CEO Roger Burnley, COO Anthony Hemmerdinger and strategy chief Preyash Thakra have also quit. George fashion label head Steph Strike and interim finance director Rob McWilliam also left recently.

The supermarket — which was once the subject of a giant merger plan with Sainsbury’s — was bought for £6.8 billion earlier this year and it has seen its management team reshaped in the last few months. No details were available on replacements for the latest two departures.

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The company also said in its update that in the three months to June, comparable sales excluding fuel dropped slightly from their peak during the height of the pandemic with a 0.7% dip to £5 billion. The company said this performance was “incredibly resilient” in the circumstances given Covid restrictions on the hospitality sector a year earlier that boosted sales of food and drink to consumers at home.

It also said sales were up 3.1% from the same period pre-pandemic, partly driven by general merchandise sales. Non-food goods such as fashion and homewares are a particularly important part of the wider Asda business, mores than at some of its supermarket peers.

That can be seen from the Missguided deal that the company has just launched. 

George at Asda has launched a partnership with the online fashion brand in 100 stores and online via George.com. The retailer now offers a selection of dresses, blouses and co-ords as “part of George’s wider strategy to partner with relevant brands that appeal to younger shoppers and complement existing trend-inspired own-label collections, including womenswear label G21 and athleisure collection Holy Field”.

Earlier this year George said it would partner with between 16 and 20 third-party brands this year, with ranges from In The Style, Lee and Wrangler, Threadbare, Brave Soul and Girls on Film already available in selected Asda stores and online.