Asda has suffered another setback with a slowdown in quarterly sales as its supermarket war with rivals Tesco and Aldi is intensified by its new boss. 

Sales at Britain's third-largest grocery chain declined by 5.6% in the 12 weeks to March 23 compared with the same period last year, according to the researcher Kantar, dragging its market share down to 12.5%. 

The firm lost market share to its biggest UK rivals Tesco and Sainsbury, and the German discounters, Aldi and Lidl. 

Asda has been in decline in recent years, largely due to the 2021 acquisition by private equity firm TDR Capital and the billionaire Issa brothers. 

The £6.8billion deal has limited the supermarket's ability to compete on price drops and invest in store improvements. 

FTSE 100

The UK's flagship share index, the FTSE 100, was down 51-points at 8,609 shortly after opening this morning.

Brent crude oil futures were up 0.03%, trading at $74.43 a barrel.

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