Asda has shared a draft copy of its results with investors after its auditor did not sign off in time on company accounts.
According to The Telegraph, the grocer’s bosses shared a private presentation with lenders late last month to show the unaudited figures, which saw a return to profit for Asda following a £112m loss in 2022.
The delay to the results comes after EY quit as auditor to Asda last July, while it has since emerged that one of its senior partners began a romantic relationship with the supermarket’s co-owner Mohsin Issa.
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The Big Four firm was replaced by KPMG, but the retailer did not make a public disclosure of this change at the time.
A source close to Asda said: “We update our investors quarterly. The audit is at an advanced stage and will be completed by the end of the month.”
The added: “We are fully on track with this year’s audit, which will be in line with the finalised accounts we put out at the end of April – in both 2023 and 2022. When we sent out our results to media last year in March—they were unaudited.
An Asda spokesperson said: “We made strong progress against our strategy in 2023 with significant investment in the business to drive long-term sustainable growth, while continuing to deleverage and repay debt.”
1 Comment. Leave new
Remember Chemical Ali who used to spout propaganda during the Iraq war. That Asda spokesperson reminds me of him