Britain's second-largest grocery chain, Asda, will cut 1,400 jobs in an effort to regain market share. The chain, a unit of Wal-Mart Stores, will use the savings from the job cuts to reduce prices. Asda's chief executive said the company's performance had been below expectations; the job cuts are seen as a way to win back business from Tesco, currently the market leader. Asda represents about 50 percent of Wal-Mart's sales outside the United States and 10 percent of total sales.
See "Big British Grocery Chain to Cut 1,400 Jobs", Bloomberg News, The New York Times, July 5, 2005