For Asda boss Andy Clarke, the nadir may be yet to come
It takes a brave man to call the bottom. It's just so easy to get it wrong.
Asda boss Andy Clarke certainly appears to have jumped the gun when he said last August that the Walmart-owned supermarket had reached its “nadir”.
At the time, his words were meant to give reassurance that, although the business had suffered, it was getting back on track under the “project renewal” turnaround plan. But nine months and three quarters of decline later, they just seem like wishful thinking.
As the longest serving boss among the Big Four supermarkets, Clarke is the last man standing.
Tesco's boss Philip Clarke and his Morrisons counterpart Dalton Philips are already becoming distant memories under new regimes that have swept away the mistakes of the past. Drastic Dave Lewis and his no-less-drastic namesake Potts have implemented major changes to both their businesses, addressing legacy issues and seeing signs of improvement as a result.
The transition from Justin King's glorious reign to Mike Coupe's tenure might have had some road-bumps, but there's no arguing Sainsbury's is performing relatively well.
That's not to say it's all rosy in the sector: most recent figures from Kanter showed that all of the Big Four had posted declines – but it's fair to say that Asda continues to be the laggard.
The Walmart-owned business has lost nearly one percentage point in market share over the last year, gobbled up by the likes of Aldi and Lidl who are fighting a fierce price war that their bigger, more established rival can't hope to win.
There was no update from Clarke himself this quarter – just a cursory comment from Walmart's US-based finance chief. It's clear the pressure is on. What's less easy to determine is where he goes from here – or if Walmart will simply decide to call time on his term.
For Clarke at least, the nadir may be yet to come.