Asda’s new chair and former boss Allan Leighton has claimed it could take three to five years to turnaround the grocer.

Speaking with The Guardian, Leighton, who took over the role from Lord Stuart Rose yesterday (25 November), said his initial priority would be to “restore Asda’s DNA”, including making improvements to price and availability, and hiring a new CEO.

Leighton previously served as the supermarket’s CEO from 1996 to 2001, in which time he revived Asda’s performance and oversaw its £6bn takeover by Walmart in 1999, alongside current M&S chair Archie Norman.

It is understood that Leighton will have a revival plan in place by the end of January, where he will be looking for a “really good leader” who can manage people and understand shoppers, and will address any IT issues as Asda has “lost significant competitive advantage” due to trouble moving away from Walmart’s systems.

Subscribe to Grocery Gazette for free

Sign up here to get the latest grocery and food news each morning

He added that the retailer’s shareholders, which include Walmart, private equity firm TDR Capital and EG Group CEO Mohsin Issa, were united in the agreement that Asda “has to grow”.

Leighton said that he was “delighted to be returning to the business which has always been a special place for me,” adding that “the potential for Asda now is significant”.

Earlier this month, Asda ordered its staff back to the office a minimum of three days a week and began cutting head office jobs as it attempted to arrest its slump in sales.

According to the latest data from Kantar, Asda was one of only two leading grocers to experience a drop in sales and market share for the 12 weeks to 3 November, as sales at the supermarket fell 5.5%, with its share of the market down one percentage point to 12.5%.