Asda pledges to keep prices down as sales soar 5%

SUPERMARKET Asda promised to protect shoppers from inflationary pressures yesterday after it revealed a 5 per cent increase in underlying first-quarter sales.

The UK's second-biggest grocer, part of the Wal-Mart group, said the like-for-like sales increase came as it strove to cut prices for consumers.

Andy Bond, president and chief executive of Asda, claimed yesterday that the supermarket had to play its role in helping to protect shoppers from rocketing commodity prices.

He said:

"We have a duty to lock down inflation by working with our suppliers, to cut costs to ensure that our customers are always getting the best possible deal on their weekly shopping."

Asda posted sales up 6.4 per cent on a comparative basis, excluding petrol, with the early Easter and February's leap year extra day taken into account.

The figures contributed to a better-than-expected first-quarter performance from Wal-Mart Stores, the world's biggest retailer.

Wal-Mart banked a near-7 per cent increase in profits to $3.02 billion (£1.55bn) in the three-month trading period to the end of April.

Revenues for the US retail giant rose to $95.3bn compared to $86.4bn in the first quarter the previous year.