Leeds-based supermarket group Asda said its third-quarter trading was impacted by “severe disruption” to its IT systems “following cutover from Project Future” which materially impacted performance.
Asda is owned 67.5% by TDR Capital, 22.5% by Mohsin Issa, and 10% by Walmart Inc.
“Project Future was one of the largest and most complex IT projects undertaken by any European retailer,” said Asda.
“It involved the separation of more than 2,500 legacy systems and moving every aspect of Asda’s operations to its own IT platforms.
“The completion of the systems cutover disrupted operations during Q3 – particularly the flow of stock between depots and stores – which led to inconsistent availability levels across stores and particularly online.
“The online business was also impacted by functionality issues following the launch of a new app and website in August.
“All systems have stabilised and availability in stores and online is now back at an eight-year high of over 95%. Improvements continue week by week.”
Asda published a Q3 trading update for the three-month period ending September 30, reporting total revenues (excluding fuel) of £5.1 billion and a 2.8% decline in like-for-like sales.
Asda executive chairman Allan Leighton said: “We said it would take three to five years to turn Asda around. We made good progress in the first half of the year against our ‘Formula for Growth’ with the best availability in eight years, a notable price gap versus competitors and a return to like-for-like growth.
“At Q2 results, we said that the cutover from Project Future, although completed, would likely have a negative impact on our performance.
“This change severely disrupted our systems and materially impacted our progress, as we saw a step-back to inconsistent availability, operational issues at depot and in-store and a poor customer experience online and through the app that impacted our Grocery Home Shopping business in particular.
“Since then, we have made good progress stabilising our platforms and the worst of the disruption is now behind us.
“Availability is back to where it was in June, operational issues are reducing and performance in recent weeks is improving, but we do not expect to re-establish our Q2 2025 position until Q2 of 2026.”