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63-519: Asda Stores Limited ( / ˈ æ z d ə / ), trading as Asda and often styled as ASDA , is a British supermarket and petrol station chain. Its headquarters are 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 Group . It sold these acquisitions during

126-527: A Subway franchise. There are currently no plans to roll the Subway franchise out across the chain. In May 2010, Asda announced the purchase of the 193 UK stores of Danish discount retailer Netto in a £778 million deal. But the Competition Commission made them sell off 47 of the stores to other retailers. The remaining stores continued to trade as Netto stores until early 2011, when Asda integrated

189-420: A DBA must be registered with a local or state government, or both, depending on the jurisdiction. For example, California, Texas and Virginia require a DBA to be registered with each county (or independent city in the case of Virginia) where the owner does business. Maryland and Colorado have DBAs registered with a state agency. Virginia also requires corporations and LLCs to file a copy of their registration with

252-467: A DBA statement, though names including the first and last name of the owner may be accepted. This also reduces the possibility of two local businesses operating under the same name, although some jurisdictions do not provide exclusivity for a name, or may allow more than one party to register the same name. Note, though, that this is not a substitute for filing a trademark application. A DBA filing carries no legal weight in establishing trademark rights. In

315-516: A businessperson writes a trade name on a contract, invoice, or cheque, they must also add the legal name of the business. Numbered companies will very often operate as something other than their legal name, which is unrecognizable to the public. In Chile , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Ireland , businesses are legally required to register business names where these differ from

378-402: A distribution centre. That was far above the net book value of the locations, some of which were poorly sited. (Asda has subsequently relocated or rebuilt more than 30 of the original Gateway stores since the late 1990s.) The move left the company overstretched as a result, and by 1991, it found itself in serious financial trouble with over £1 billion of debt; compounding the situation further

441-539: A new company, Asda ( As quith + Da iries) (capitalised from 1985). By 1967, the company had set up a store in Billingham , County Durham . By 1969, Noel Stockdale bought out the Asquith brothers' stake and became chairman of the company. Asda took advantage of the abolition of retail price maintenance to offer large-scale, low-cost supermarkets. This was aided by the decision to acquire three struggling US-owned branches in

504-462: A new discount format called "Dales" but this had been ended by 1998. In 1993, Asda completed a second rights issue that raised a further £347 million and began selling off some of its assets; some stores were sold to competitors, and the Allied Carpets chain was sold to Carpetland. By 1995, the company had returned to profitability and had virtually wiped out its debt – this is cited as one of

567-472: A plan to fully integrate mobile platforms into stores. The app allowed customers to create shopping lists and scan item barcodes for more information about them. In 2015, Asda adopted Walmart's slogan: "Save Money. Live Better". Around the same time they adopted an updated logo, with Walmart's yellow spark surrounding the first letter. The spark was later removed. In June 2016, it was announced that Andy Clarke, CEO since 2010, would be replaced by Sean Clarke ,

630-458: A registered legal name and a fictitious business name, or trade name, is important because fictitious business names do not always identify the entity that is legally responsible . Legal agreements (such as contracts ) are normally made using the registered legal name of the business. If a corporation fails to consistently adhere to such important legal formalities like using its registered legal name in contracts, it may be subject to piercing of

693-477: A resurgent Sainsbury's , Asda's chief executive, Tony De Nunzio left, and was replaced by Andy Bond . In 2005, Asda expanded into Northern Ireland by purchasing 12 former Safeway stores from Morrisons . Asda's property development arm, Gazeley Limited, was sold to Economic Zones World (EZW), a Dubai World subsidiary, in June 2008 for in excess of £300 million. In November 2008, there were reports that Asda

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756-464: A seat on the board and "an ongoing commercial relationship". In the same month, Asda said that it might need to put 5,000 jobs at risk as part of reconstruction plan in the context of people shopping online. In March 2021, Asda was involved in the "largest ever sterling bond offering" as part of the financing package to fund the acquisition purchase by TDR Capital and the Issa brothers. In May 2023, it

819-503: A small convenience store and click and collect facilities. The trial was a success and in 2014, a full roll out of this format was announced after a third site opened in Northolt, West London. In February 2015, 15 petrol filling stations were acquired from Rontec Ltd, and converted to the new format. Asda originally aimed to have at least 100 standalone forecourts by 2018. However, in October 2015,

882-640: A small number of pilot George stores. In January 2012 Asda announced that it had agreed to terms with two franchise partners to open international George stores. Through the agreement with SandpiperCI, based in the Channel Islands, the company will be responsible for opening George franchises in both Jersey and Guernsey, and through the Azadea Group, headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon, the George franchise stores would open in

945-611: A week and cutting head office jobs in an attempt to halt the supermarket’s decline. Following the takeover by Walmart, several "Asda Walmart Supercentres" opened, creating some of the largest hypermarkets in the United Kingdom. Since 2006, all new Supercentres have been solely branded as Asda Supercentre without the Walmart branding. The first Supercentre with a sales area of 8,600 m (93,000 sq ft) opened in Patchway, Bristol in

1008-419: A £5.4 billion merger that would have both created the United Kingdom's largest multi-category retailer and enabled Asda to begin operating stores throughout Europe. A merger deal was abandoned when Walmart outbid Kingfisher to purchase Asda for £6.7 billion, which was completed on 26 July 1999 in a move that was initially speculated by British media outlets as a potential corporate raid . Shortly after

1071-454: Is also sometimes used. A company typically uses a trade name to conduct business using a simpler name rather than using their formal and often lengthier name. Trade names are also used when a preferred name cannot be registered, often because it may already be registered or is too similar to a name that is already registered. Using one or more fictitious business names does not create additional separate legal entities. The distinction between

1134-578: Is called a razón social . Estover Estover is a district in Devon , England, within the Plymouth boundary area. The original hamlet was extensively developed during the 1970s, into what became back then a large housing estate , consisting almost entirely of council houses (constructor: Wimpey Homes ), situated five miles northeast of Plymouth city centre in the English county of Devon . The majority of

1197-684: Is currently the second largest Asda Supercentre, and the third largest is located in Minworth , West Midlands, followed by Patchway. As of 31 January 2021, there are 32 Supercentres. Asda superstores are large supermarkets with a non-food offer slightly smaller than an Asda Supercentre. As of 31 January 2021, there are 342 superstores. Most superstores have a petrol filling station and dining and refreshment facilities for shoppers such as customer cafes, and selected stores have McDonald's franchise restaurants or "Express Diners". The Old Kent Road , Scunthorpe Colindale and Brunstane stores previously trialled

1260-498: The North of England , the newly focused food retail group expanded further south in 1989 by purchasing the large format stores of rival Gateway Superstores for £705 million. This significantly increased Asda's total selling area, but the company had borrowed heavily in order to fund the purchase – city estimates suggested that Asda had overpaid by around £300 million for 61 of the largest Gateway stores, two undeveloped store sites and

1323-459: The United Kingdom , there is no filing requirement for a "business name", defined as "any name under which someone carries on business" that, for a company or limited liability partnership, "is not its registered name", but there are requirements for disclosure of the owner's true name and some restrictions on the use of certain names. A minority of U.S. states, including Washington , still use

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1386-513: 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 August 2024, its market share in the UK is 12.6 per cent. Besides its core supermarkets,

1449-581: The Middle East. In April 2006, Asda launched a new trial format called 'Asda Essentials' in Northampton , followed by another in Pontefract a month later. The stores were modelled on France's Leader Price chain, with a smaller floorplate than Asda's mainstream stores and with a primary focus on own-brand products, only stocking branded items that were perceived to be at the "core" of a family's weekly shop with

1512-418: The U.S., trademark rights are acquired by use in commerce, but there can be substantial benefits to filing a trademark application. Sole proprietors are the most common users of DBAs. Sole proprietors are individual business owners who run their businesses themselves. Since most people in these circumstances use a business name other than their own name, it is often necessary for them to get DBAs. Generally,

1575-503: The UK. Under the plans, Walmart would own 42% of the combined business, which would be led by the existing chief executive of Sainsbury's, Mike Coupe. The group would also open branches of Argos within Asda stores. The merger underwent intense scrutiny by a cross-party group of MPs, chairing select committees for the proposed merger, along with the Competition and Markets Authority, investigating

1638-415: The Walmart model, Asda began opening larger 'Hypermarket' (later 'Supercentre') stores as well as introducing pharmacies and cafes to its stores. At the same time, merger discussions were taking place between Asda and other retailers such as Safeway and Kingfisher plc ; both collapsed without an agreement being reached, but in 1999, a second round of discussions with Kingfisher later reached an agreement for

1701-402: The aim being to challenge the dominance of Tesco and Sainsbury's in the convenience store market while at the same time addressing competition from discount supermarkets such as Aldi , Lidl and Netto. On 6 December 2006, The Guardian reported that further planned store openings were under review following poor sales in the existing outlets, while the range of branded products being carried

1764-594: The coffee shop Living Cafe within some of the stores. The first store with this format opened in Walsall , West Midlands. As at 31 January 2021, there are 33 stores. In 2004, the George clothing brand was extended to a number of standalone George stores on the high street; the first George standalone store to open was in Preston. In 2008, all George standalone stores were closed due to high rental costs resulting in low profitability. In 2011, Asda announced its intention to establish

1827-534: 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

1890-452: The company decided to slow the roll out down to address the problems associated with a major collapse of profits from its large store formats due to intense competition from its main rivals. But, the company is still continuing to add a combination of fully automated credit/debit card payment only petrol stations and petrol stations with traditional forecourt shops within the car parks of its existing store portfolio and to new store sites. Asda

1953-484: The corporate veil . In English , trade names are generally treated as proper nouns . In Argentina , a trade name is known as a nombre de fantasía ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called a razón social (social name). In Brazil , a trade name is known as a nome fantasia ('fantasy' or 'fiction' name), and the legal name of business is called razão social (social name). In some Canadian jurisdictions , such as Ontario , when

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2016-522: The county or city to be registered with the State Corporation Commission. DBA statements are often used in conjunction with a franchise . The franchisee will have a legal name under which it may sue and be sued, but will conduct business under the franchiser's brand name (which the public would recognize). A typical real-world example can be found in a well-known pricing mistake case, Donovan v. RRL Corp. , 26 Cal. 4th 261 (2001), where

2079-504: The existing Spar stores at these locations were rebranded to either Asda Express or Asda On the Move. The deal also included ownership of fast-food chain Leon , as well as the purchase of 462 Burger King , Greggs and Subway franchises. In June 2024, Zuber Issa announced he will sell his 22.5% stake in Asda to TDR Capital which would make them the majority owner, controlling 67.5% of the company in

2142-405: The fresh food and general merchandise offer within all stores. After reportedly clashing with Roger Burnley and only six months in his post, Lorente left Asda at the end of July 2018. His role was divided up between Burnley and Anthony Hemmerdinger. In April 2018, Sainsbury's and Walmart announced negotiations about a possible merger of Sainsbury's and Asda, creating the largest supermarket chain in

2205-511: The head of parent company Walmart's operations in China. In October 2017, Asda announced that the current CEO, Sean Clarke would be replaced by Roger Burnley , the deputy CEO, from 1 January 2018, and the sixth CEO since 2000. In November 2017, Asda recruited Jesús Lorente, from French hypermarket retailer Carrefour . He became CMO (Chief Merchandising Officer), in January 2018, and was put in charge of

2268-517: The houses are now privately owned. Estover also annexes an industrial estate . It has two schools, Tor Bridge High (formerly Estover Community college) and Tor Bridge Primary, both of which are situated along Miller Way. Estover has one public house , the Jolly Miller. Associated Dairies opened their very first, and large Asda superstore in southern England in Estover in 1976. The industrial estate

2331-401: The impact of how the deal could negatively affect the retail industry by a possible reduction of consumer choice for shoppers resulting in price rises, and of how suppliers, especially smaller, family-owned companies could be squeezed by the combined group. The CMA were inundated with complaints by suppliers and other major retailers of the damage they felt would be inflicted upon them if the deal

2394-480: The introduction of Asda branded products. In 1985, Asda merged with MFI (Mullard Furniture Industries) and the group was renamed Asda-MFI Group plc. Asda established its headquarters at "Asda House". The site was officially opened in 1988 by the then Prime Minister , Margaret Thatcher . By the end of the 1990s, the 'Asdale'-named clothing range was replaced by the clothing ranges from the newly formed George Davies partnership with Asda. With stores mainly based in

2457-402: The law is to protect the public from fraud, by compelling the business owner to first file or register his fictitious business name with the county clerk, and then making a further public record of it by publishing it in a newspaper. Several other states, such as Illinois , require print notices as well. In Uruguay , a trade name is known as a nombre fantasía , and the legal name of business

2520-486: The major oil companies would not supply fuel to be sold at discount prices. From the early seventies, oil companies such as Mobil, Shell and Texaco supplied fuel to Asda as more supermarkets started to sell fuel from car park forecourts. Since the mid-1990s Asda has supplied, along with its main supermarket rivals, its own fuel delivered by its own tankers to its petrol station forecourts. As of June 2018, Asda operates 319 petrol stations in total, 18 of which are standalone and

2583-681: The mid-1960s of the GEM retail group. The Government Exchange Mart stores in Preston, Lancashire , Cross Gates, Leeds and West Bridgford , Nottinghamshire , had accumulated losses of £320,000 and offered to sell the stores for 20% of whatever Asda could recoup as losses from the Inland Revenue . They received the whole amount back. The rent was only 10 shillings (50p) per square foot on a 20-year lease, with no rent reviews, Asda increased GEM's £6,000 per week sales to around £60,000 per week in just six months with

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2646-477: The most successful turnarounds in British retail history. Norman succeeded Gillam as chairman upon the latter's retirement in 1996, appointing then-deputy Allan Leighton as chief executive, and began to remodel Asda's stores along the lines of Walmart , the world's largest retailer. Leighton travelled to Bentonville, Arkansas , to assess and photograph the systems and marketing deployed by Walmart. In 1998, following

2709-461: The named defendant, RRL Corporation, was a Lexus car dealership doing business as " Lexus of Westminster ", but remaining a separate legal entity from Lexus, a division of Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. . In California , filing a DBA statement also requires that a notice of the fictitious name be published in local newspapers for some set period of time to inform the public of the owner's intent to operate under an assumed name . The intention of

2772-629: The new stores named as Asda. During the 1970s, with over 30 stores in the north of England, Asda began expanding south, with the opening of new stores in the Estover area of Plymouth , Devon and Gosport , Hampshire in 1977. In 1978, Asda acquired Allied Carpets . In 1982, the first London store opened in Park Royal , near Ealing . The Isle of Dogs and Charlton, London stores followed on rapidly thereafter. In 1984, managing director, John Hardman, made attempts to halt Asda's decline, which included

2835-537: The old indoor market at Edlington . Both stores traded under the name of 'Queens'. Their next store was a purpose-built supermarket in South Elmsall , a town in which Asda has a distribution centre to this day. In 1965, the Asquith brothers approached Associated Dairies to run the butchery departments within their small store chain. A merger was proposed and the Asquiths' business was joined with Noel Stockdale 's to form

2898-557: The others mostly within the car park area of its stores. Trading as In a number of countries, the phrase " trading as " (abbreviated to t/a ) is used to designate a trade name. In the United States , the phrase " doing business as " (abbreviated to DBA , dba , d.b.a. , or d/b/a ) is used, among others, such as assumed business name or fictitious business name . In Canada , " operating as " (abbreviated to o/a ) and " trading as " are used, although " doing business as "

2961-526: The recession and the reining in of spending by consumers on non-food purchases. On 11 May 2010, Andy Clarke , the chief operating officer, was appointed as CEO. In the same month Asda bought the original Netto UK supermarket chain in a £778 million deal. In February 2011, Asda announced the purchase of six stores from Focus DIY ; five of these were converted into supermarkets later that year. On 16 April 2012, Asda launched their Android grocery shopping app and mobile website for non-grocery items with

3024-586: The same time, a group of West Riding dairy farmers, including the Stockdale family and Craven Dairies, joined under the banner of J. W. Hindell Dairy Farmers Ltd. The company diversified in 1949 to become Associated Dairies and Farm Stores Ltd, with Arthur Stockdale as the managing director. In 1963, the Asquith brothers converted an old cinema, the Queens in Castleford , into a self-service supermarket. Another followed in

3087-612: The stores into its supermarkets division, designated for shops smaller than 2,300 m (25,000 sq ft). These former Netto stores form the core of the Asda Supermarket format. As of 31 January 2021, there are 207 supermarkets. In October 2003, Asda launched a new format called Asda Living . This is the company's first "general merchandise" store, containing all its non-food ranges including clothing, home electronics, toys, homewares, health, and beauty products. With these stores they have linked up with Compass Group who operate

3150-600: The summer of 2000. The first Scottish Supercentre opened in Livingston , in 2001. The Bletchley , Milton Keynes Supercentre which opened in November 2005 is currently the largest Asda Supercentre with a net sales floor of over 11,000 m (120,000 sq ft). This was preceded in June 2002 by the Eastlands, Manchester store which was the largest store at the time with a sales area of 10,000 m (110,000 sq ft) but

3213-454: The surname(s) of the sole trader or partners, or the legal name of a company. The Companies Registration Office publishes a searchable register of such business names. In Japan , the word yagō ( 屋号 ) is used. In Colonial Nigeria , certain tribes had members that used a variety of trading names to conduct business with the Europeans. Two examples were King Perekule VII of Bonny , who

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3276-408: The takeover, Norman resigned as chairman and left the company to pursue his political career; he was succeeded as chairman by Leighton. As Walmart were keen on entering the British market, Bob Martin, Walmart's president of international operations, lobbied Prime Minister Tony Blair on planning issues. In 2005, amid reported concerns within Walmart about a slippage in market share, partially due to

3339-469: The term trade name to refer to "doing business as" (DBA) names. In most U.S. states now, however, DBAs are officially referred to using other terms. Almost half of the states, including New York and Oregon , use the terms assumed business name or assumed name ; nearly as many, including Pennsylvania , use the term fictitious name . For consumer protection purposes, many U.S. jurisdictions require businesses operating with fictitious names to file

3402-428: The third quarter of 2024. In September 2024, it was announced that Lord Rose would succeeded Mohsin Issa as CEO and be supported by TDR Capital's Rob Hattrell. Mohsin would retain his ownership stake in Asda, as well as a non-executive director role. He would return to EG Group to be its sole chief executive. In November 2024, Asda announced to staff that they were ordering staff back to the office at least three days

3465-452: Was a declining customer base, which was mainly caused by Asda's focus on moving upmarket resulting in prices rising to levels significantly higher than competitors. Eventually, a combination of flagging profits, a tremendous debt and a loss of customers left Asda in such an egregious financial situation that they came very close to breaching their banking covenants; at one point, they almost entered administration . The company's first response

3528-491: Was also being expanded due to customer demand. In January 2007 it was announced that the original Northampton trial store would close within a month after only 10 months of trading. In 2012, Asda trialled a new standalone petrol filling station format (which means that they are not attached to or near an existing Asda store) at two locations in Sale, Greater Manchester and Leeds Bridge, which is located opposite head office. They include

3591-501: Was also the first supermarket chain in the United Kingdom to sell petrol at its old Halifax store in 1967, which at the time was located inside a converted mill in Battinson Road which burnt down during a major fire in 1982, and subsequently reopened as a purpose-built store in 1983, without the petrol station. The store moved to a different site in 2004. Back then its forecourt fuel was supplied by discount Russian supplier Nafta, because

3654-467: Was approved. On 25 April 2019 the CMA blocked the proposed merger, suggesting that it would increase prices for consumers and make competition unfair for the other UK retailers, Sainsbury's then announced that it was abandoning the merger. In February 2021, Mohsin Issa , Zuber Issa and TDR Capital acquired Asda, which at the time was valued at £6.8 billion. Walmart retained "an equity investment" in Asda,

3717-545: Was known as Captain Pepple in trade matters, and King Jubo Jubogha of Opobo , who bore the pseudonym Captain Jaja . Both Pepple and Jaja would bequeath their trade names to their royal descendants as official surnames upon their deaths. In Singapore , there is no filing requirement for a "trading as" name, but there are requirements for disclosure of the underlying business or company's registered name and unique entity number. In

3780-543: Was rejected by the Competition and Markets Authority . As of June 2024, the company is majority owned by TDR Capital following the sale of Zuber Issa's 22.5 per cent holding to the company. The Asquith family were butchers based in Knottingley , Wakefield , West Yorkshire. In the 1920s, they expanded their business to seven butchers shops in the area. Their sons, Peter and Fred, later became founding members of Asda. Around

3843-434: Was reported that the Issa brothers and TDR Capital had together contributed just £200 million for their purchase of Asda, worth £6.8 billion; the majority of the purchase price was funded by a loan from the parent company of heavily indebted EG Group , and by disposing of Asda assets. In October 2023, Asda completed a £2.27 billion acquisition of EG Group property, this mainly consisting of 356 forecourt sites, where

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3906-493: Was to buy Irish retailer Dunnes Stores . In August 2009, Walmart sold Asda for £6.9 billion to its Leeds-based investment subsidiary Corinth Services Limited. The deal was described as part of a "group restructuring" and meant Asda remained under the control of Walmart, since Corinth is itself a Walmart subsidiary. In April 2010, Asda announced plans to open over 100 new non-food stores as part of an ambitious five-year plan. These plans were mothballed shortly after because of

3969-523: Was to change its management; chairman John Hardman was ousted in June 1991 and was replaced by Patrick Gillam, and Archie Norman was appointed chief executive in October. Asda then completed a rights issue in November 1991 that raised £357 million and cut the company's debts to £668 million. In May 1992, Asda reduced their prices back to their traditional level (5–7% below competitors) and announced that they would eliminate over 500 management positions. Underperforming stores were initially converted to

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