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George drives turnaround as Asda ‘edges forwards’ in FY25

Asda says its George clothing label outperformed the market in 2025, becoming a key driver of growth as the retailer rolls out the next phase of its Formula for Growth turnaround plan.

Asda described its trading update for FY25 as “clear progress” across the first year of its Formula for Growth plan.

The retailer highlighted that 47% of all revenue now comes from its non-grocery divisions, including George, Express, pharmacy, optical, online and fuel.

Executive chairman Allan Leighton said: “George and pharmacy outperformed their respective markets last year, demonstrating the breadth of our offer.”

Group sales (excluding-fuel) fell 3.3% year on year to £21.0bn, while like-for-like sales (ex-fuel) improved slightly from -3.4% in FY2024 to 3.1% in FY2025.

Adjusted EBITDA (after rent) declined 33.1% to £764m. Asda also reported a £500m reduction in net debt and said it closed the year with £1.3bn of cash and £2.1bn in total liquidity, supported by what it described as disciplined cash management.

Asda said the first year of its Formula for Growth plan delivered progress across pricing, availability, systems, and customer satisfaction. The retailer claimed to have re-established itself as the UK’s lowest-priced traditional supermarket, creating a “4–7% price gap versus competitors,” and reported that availability reached an eight-year high of 95% following the Project Future systems changeover.

Early 2026 trading appears stronger, with total like-for-like sales improving from 1.6% in January to 1.0% in February, turning positive at 1.2% in March, with in-store LFLs growing for the last two months.

Leighton added: “As we enter the second year of our turnaround, we have an improved customer offer, stable core systems, a strengthened balance sheet and a strong leadership team to deliver our Formula for Growth. Our progress in key areas like price, availability, and customer satisfaction is edging forwards, reflected in positive like-for-like sales growth in our stores for the last two months.”

Chief financial officer Michael Gleeson added:“As we continued to make progress against our strategy, disciplined cash management meant we closed the year in a solid financial position, with more than £1.3bn of cash on the balance sheet and total liquidity of £2.1bn. Our operational performance continues to stabilise, and we have seen sales momentum build through the first quarter.”