Asda's tech divorce from Walmart, including a new SAP system, cost £1.22bn.
Project Future separated the UK's third largest supermarket from Walmart's systems after the 2021 sale.
It included a new SAP S/4HANA system hosted in Microsoft Azure, live in January 2024, and the conversion of every store, depot and head office. Asda's annual report puts the cumulative cash outflow for the programme at £1,224 million to 31 December 2025, with £284 million invested in 2025 alone. The Times had reported the original estimate at £800 million.
The £1,224 million is the whole separation programme, not the SAP build alone. The Register reported the figures on 8 July.
Most large programmes overspend. Very few get an explanation this direct from the chairman:
"The downturn in sales and to a degree the market share issue is totally driven by Future, it's not driven by any competitive activity."
That is Allan Leighton telling The Times the programme moved Asda's market share. Competitive activity did not. He called the IT issues "totally self-inflicted" and put them down to "poor integration, insufficient testing, and a lack of capacity planning."
Each of those was settled in governance meetings months before anybody logged into the new system.
What would an honest review find in your programme this morning?
Sources
Our file on Walmart
- 27 Sept
Walmart's CEO made three promises. Its AI won't price you by who you are.
- 25 Sept
Walmart sold out a $4,299 Nvidia card. 10,000 shoppers had it in their carts.
- 21 Sept
Amazon's shopping bot may bury US-made goods, two senators told the FTC.
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