WMT Walmart Inc

By Ian Walker

LONDON--Asda, the U.K.'s third-largest grocer by market share and the British unit of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (WMT), said Thursday that like-for-like sales fell 5.7% in the first quarter of 2016, citing "fierce competition" in the market.

Asda has a 16% share of the U.K. grocery market according to Kantar, which monitors the household grocery purchasing habits of 25,000 demographically representative households in the U.K. Asda follows Tesco PLC (TSCO.LN) and J Sainsbury PLC (SBRY.LN) which have 28% and 16.5% of the market respectively, according to the most recent data from Kantar.

Last month, Tesco reported a 0.9% rise in like-for-like U.K. sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2016 ended Feb. 27, excluding both VAT and fuel, and said the market remains "challenging, deflationary and uncertain". It is due to issue a first-quarter trading statement on June 23.

Sainsbury reported a 1.1% fall in like-for-like sales for fiscal 2016 ended March 12, including VAT, but excluding fuel, and also described the market as "competitive." It is due to report first-quarter trading on June 8.

Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs said Asda's cost analytics program, which is part of "project renewal" made good progress and delivered savings that were invested back into the business.

"Project renewal remains a focus with the aim to simplify and strengthen the customer offer, reduce costs and drive sales," he said.

Write to Ian Walker at ian.walker@wsj.com; @IanWalk40289749

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 19, 2016 09:33 ET (13:33 GMT)

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