Asda has seen its adjusted earnings rise 24% following the success of its loyalty programme and continued investment into value.
The supermarket giant saw underlying profit exceed £1bn with four consecutive quarters of year-on-year growth, while sales surged 7.1% to £21.9bn.
Asda said this growth was fuelled by its “continued focus on value”, with half of all sales now linked to its Asda Rewards loyalty scheme app which has around six million customers.
During the year the grocer also reduced prices on more than 800 everyday products and continued to invest in its lower-priced Just Essentials brand.
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Asda co-owner Mohsin Issa said: “As well as investing in price to maintain our position as the cheapest traditional supermarket, we continued to invest in further enhancing the quality of our products, building on the earlier successful launch of the budget-friendly Just Essentials brand with a significant own-label transformation programme.
“This saw us launch thousands of new and improved food lines to drive quality perception among consumers, including a refresh of our entire ready meals range.”
This programme is expected to continue in the coming months with the redesign and relaunch of 1,500 mid-tier ambient lines.
Issa added: “We continue to strengthen the business by expanding in the growing convenience and food-to-go sectors, leveraging our loyalty app and driving innovation in online grocery where we are the UK’s second largest supermarket.”
It comes as Asda’s billionaire co-owner Zuber Issa is understood to be close to selling his 22.5% stake in the UK supermarket to TDR Capital in a move that would give the private equity firm majority control of the grocer.
Last month, Mohsin Issa said that he was planning to step back from his role at the supermarket giant after carrying out a “reset” of the business.
In his first broadcast interview with the BBC, Mohsin said that while he was “here for the long haul,” he would appoint a chief executive to take over daily management of the company.
