is a chain of Supermarket s in the United Kingdom offering food, clothing and general merchandise products. It became a subsidiary of the American retail giant Wal-Mart in 1999, and is currently the second largest chain in the UK after Tesco .
ASDA is Wal-Mart's largest overseas subsidiary, accounting for almost half of the company's international sales. As of January 2006, there were 21 ASDA/Wal-Mart Supercentres, 243 ASDA superstores, 37 ASDA supermarkets (including town centres), five ''ASDA Living'' stores, 10 George clothing stores and 24 depots (distribution centres). ASDA has 150,000 employees, who it refers to as "colleagues" (90,000 part-time, 60,000 full-time). The company is also engaged in property development through its subsidiary company, ''Gazeley Properties Limited''.
As a wholly owned division of Wal-Mart, ASDA is not required to declare quarterly or half-yearly earnings. It submits full accounts to Companies House each October.
|