Asda

Asda Stores Limited
Asda
Formerly
  • Associated Dairies & Farm Stores (Leeds) Limited
  • Associated Dairies Limited
Company typePrivate
IndustryRetail
Founded19 February 1949 (1949-02-19) in Knottingley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England
Founders
HeadquartersLeeds, West Yorkshire, England
Number of locations
1,106 (2025)
Area served
United Kingdom
Key people
Allan Leighton (chairman)
Products
BrandsLeon Restaurants
Services
Revenue £21.9 billion (excluding fuel, 2023)
>£1 billion (2023)
Owner
Number of employees
145,000 (2022)
Divisions
  • Asda Living
Subsidiaries
Websiteasda.com

Asda Stores Limited (/ˈæzdə/), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA, is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters is in Leeds, England. The company was incorporated as Associated Dairies and Farm Stores in 1949. It expanded into Southern England during the 1970s and 1980s, and acquired Allied Carpets, 61 large Gateway Supermarkets and other businesses, such as MFI. It sold these acquisitions during the 1990s to concentrate on the supermarkets. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange until 1999 when it was acquired by Walmart for £6.7 billion. Asda was the second-largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom between 2003 and 2014 by market share, at which point it fell into third place. As of January 2025 its market share in the UK is 12.6 per cent.

Besides its core supermarkets, the company also acts as a white label payment card provider offering assistance for insurance and payment services under the Asda Money brand and also has a mobile virtual network operator.

In February 2021, the Issa brothers and TDR Capital acquired Asda, with Walmart retaining "an equity investment" in Asda, a seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship". The deal came after an acquisition by Sainsbury's was rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority. As of March 2025 the company is majority-owned by TDR Capital after buying Zuber Issa's 22.5 per cent holding; Mohsin Issa retained a 22.5% stake but discontinued running the company in September 2024.