Asda has announced an increase in sales by almost £1 billion in the year to December 31st 2006.
The Wal-Mart owned supermarket reported an increase in turnover to £15.7 billion, up from £14.8 billion the previous year. Pre-tax profit rose from £572 million to £593 million and operating profit increased by £17.1m.
Like-for-like growth was described as being in the “low single digits”, resulting in a 0.2 per cent rise in market share to 10.8 per cent, according to accounts filed this weekend at Companies House .
Asda said in its filing: “2006 was a year for recovery for the group . The improvement in the performance during the year was a result of executing a customer focused strategy “.
Despite a good showing for the year, profits have yet to have yet to recover to 2004 levels– when the company reported a £692 million pre-tax profit .
Members of staff – who shared a £22.8m bonus in 2006 – at Asda stores throughout the UK increased by over 6,000 as the group opened 22 new supermarkets in 2006.
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