Asda owners Mohsin and Zuber Issa are still paying Walmart for the supermarket’s IT system, three years after acquiring the grocer.three years after acquiring the grocer.
Asda is understood to have missed its target of stopping using the US giant’s IT systems by the end of 2023.
However, sources close to the grocer have denied the alleged deadline, claiming “there was never an expectation” to complete the handover before 2024, reports the Telegraph.
The Asda source added that the grocer is expected to move away from the old IT systems by end of 2024, adding: “As everyone knows, these projects don’t take place overnight.”
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Another former Asda worker revealed “Asda has to pay a fixed sum [to Walmart] for using the systems. There is a penalty if they go beyond a certain date.”
While the amount Asda is still paying Walmart is not known, the extra costs are thought to add additional pressure to the supermarket, which is already facing billions of pounds of debt.
Earlier this month, Asda’s owners were grilled over the £4.2bn “debt bomb” looming over the supermarket, after it revealed last month that faces an additional £30m in interest, with over £500m due in February.
Hundreds of workers have been hired to work on the IT transition from Walmart to Asda, dubbed ‘Project Future’.
An Asda spokesperson told The Telegraph: “Project Future is a once-in-a-generation IT transformation – to separate from Walmart’s legacy systems – that will give Asda a market-leading and sophisticated platform.
“The project is part of Asda’s growth strategy and will enable it to make better use of data, improve its experience for customers and colleagues, and the business to be more agile in responding to customers’ needs.”
2 Comments. Leave new
Yet another failure from The Chuckle Brothers of the grocery trade. Running Asda into the ground.
They need to sell Asda , let Tesco or Sainsbury’s buy it . Because they have no clue