Asda appoints David Potts CEO as sales return to 0.2% growth

Key Facts

Asda appointed David Potts chief executive of the group with immediate effect, while Allan Leighton became the group’s non-executive chair as planned, according to a company statement dated March 11, 2026. The leadership change comes as the British supermarket chain seeks to consolidate a recovery after a period of falling sales and market share. Leighton said Potts’s experience “is exactly what we need now for the next phase of our transformation,” linking the appointment to the group’s transformation program. Leighton’s move to a non-executive role gives Potts responsibility for day-to-day management, while the chairman remains involved at board level. The new chief executive faces the task of turning recent signs of improvement into more sustainable performance in the British retail market.

Potts led Morrisons for nine years and left the chief executive role in November 2023, according to the company’s announcement naming Rami Baitiéh as his successor. That experience gives him direct knowledge of running a major British supermarket chain as Asda seeks to improve prices, product availability and the shopping experience. Potts said Asda had made “good progress,” but added that “significant opportunities remain,” saying his priority was to improve the shopping experience and support the company’s recovery. As an immediate priority, he said he was focused on keeping prices low for customers during the Christmas season. He said the group has 116,296 employees, praising workers who he said “work extremely hard.”

The latest trading figures show a mix of improving indicators and ongoing pressure. Like-for-like sales excluding fuel rose 0.2% in the seven weeks ended August 18, 2026, and Asda said this marked a return to growth for the first time in more than two years. But second-quarter 2026 results, adjusted for the timing of Easter, showed revenue including fuel of £6.5 billion, up 0.4% year on year, while like-for-like sales fell 2.3%. Market share remained at 11.5% in the quarter. Leighton said the return to growth reflected 18 months of work to strengthen the company’s offer to customers and improve prices, availability and the shopping experience, but described the recovery as “still in its early stages.”

Asda’s pressures predate the latest improvement. Reuters reported in November 2024 that its like-for-like sales fell 4.8% in the third quarter and that the company warned British budget measures would cost it £100 million. That month, Leighton said the company’s recovery could take three to five years and identified restoring a focus on prices, improving product availability and appointing a new chief executive among his priorities. He also said at the time that he had committed to leading the company for three to five years and aimed to prepare a recovery plan by the end of the following January. On ownership, Asda announced a proposed structure in July 2024 that would give TDR Capital a 67.5% stake, Mohsin Issa 22.5% and Walmart 10%, with the deal expected to close in the third quarter of 2024. The company said its current shareholders, since taking full ownership in June 2021, had launched a £3.5 billion investment program for organic growth and strategic acquisitions, including EG UK and Co-op petrol station sites.

The transformation effort also includes expanding revenue sources and strengthening online shopping. Asda said its partnership with Amazon Ad Services would begin expanding in the fourth quarter of 2026, aiming to create a new revenue stream and provide customers with a more personalized online shopping experience. The company places the move alongside improvements to prices, availability and the in-store experience, priorities Leighton had previously linked to recovery efforts. Potts begins his tenure as third-quarter data point to a limited return to growth, following a decline in like-for-like sales in the second quarter. The next milestone cited by the company is the partnership’s expansion in the fourth quarter, while his stated current priority is the customer experience and prices during the Christmas season.