Asda revenue rises in FY23, George business continues growth

UK supermarket giant Asda has welcomed a notable uptick in its revenue for the fiscal year 2023, increasing to 21,898 million pounds (excluding fuel) at a year-on-year growth rate of 7.1 percent.

Net profit for the period came to 195 million pounds, up from a net loss of 354 million in FY22, while operating profit also improved to 637 million pounds, increasing from last year’s 425 million pounds. Asda cited “higher sales and recovering margins post significant investment in proposition” as the cause.

Adjusted EBITDA grew by 24.3 percent to 1,078 million pounds, up from FY22’s 867 million pounds, also driven by sales growth as well as the “conscious management of inflation in cost prices and cost base”.

Non-food revenue, which comprises sale of clothing and general merchandise from Asda’s legacy store estate, accounted for 14 percent of the group’s sales (ex-fuel).

The company said that the category is a key asset that “delivers relatively higher margins compared to the food business” and as such saw “resilient” trading during the year “against the backdrop of a more challenging non-food market”, with like-for-like revenue growing 1.7 percent.

Over FY23, Asda said its George clothing business became the “third largest UK clothing retailer by volume” and the “second largest market share in childrenswear in terms of volume”.