UK: Negative results sink Asda's gas station expansion

British supermarket chain Asda has buried plans of opening a whole load of gas stations stores after suffering a significant set-back in sales.

Asda was planning to strengthen its gas station network by jumping from their current 17 sites to around 150 by 2018.

The rollout of more click-and-collect sites, where internet shoppers can pick up their goods, has also been put on hold on the back of the supermarket´s biggest sales slump in its 50 years of history.

Most of the £900m ($1.4 billion) planned investment for the next 18 months will now be channelled to speeding-up the revamp of 95 big stores in the UK.

Asda maintains its commitment to growing in the fuel retailing sector, as well as expanding its click-and-collect stores, but admits it will now take longer to achieve the desired results.

According to company officials, Asda has had to change its five-year business plan because of the fierce competition from the discount supermarkets, led by Germany´s low-cost retailers Aldi and Lidl, reported The Guardian.