Asda’s technology decoupling from previous owner Walmart has cost the supermarket over £1.2 billion after a series of delays led it to go over budget.

The figure was first reported by The Register on Wednesday and comes from the company’s annual report, released last month. Asda’s programme to move away from Walmart is dubbed Project Future and began upon the retailer’s acquisition by TDR Capital and Issa Brothers in February 2021.

As part of the purchase, its new owners agreed a Transitional Services Agreement with Walmart for an initial period of three years, under which Walmart would continue to provide support for the software and IT infrastructure that Asda
relied on.

The one-off move away from this software was designed to transition the Group to a standalone IT infrastructure using software as a service from “best-in-class” digital providers. It involved migrating to a S/4HANA instance hosted in Azure after leaving Walmart’s SAP ERP, the software system that forms the backbone of many companies’ operations.

Asda’s holding company, Bellis Finco, said in the document that the software will enable it to improve operating efficiencies, make better use of data, improve experience for customers and colleagues, and make the business more agile in responding to customers’ needs.

According to The Register, the move involved separating more than 2,500 legacy systems and moving every aspect of Asda’s operations to its own IT platforms. It was a troubled endeavour, with frequent delays to its implementation and Walmart continuing to support IT at some supermarkets until 2025.

The transition was completed in the 2025 financial year for a total cost of £1.224 billion, of which over one billion was operational expenditure.

These costs contributed to Asda’s almost £1 billion loss reported in late June.

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