Asda, Britain’s third-biggest supermarket group, posted a 5.3% decline in underlying sales in the three months to the end of June, as it continues to underperform its rivals.

The group, which is majority owned by Mohsin Issa and private equity firm TDR Capital, said total revenues excluding fuel fell by 2.2% to £5.3 billion ($6.74 billion).

Asda also said Back-to-school sales rose 88% in the two weeks to mid-June due to its first-ever ‘early bird’ promotion, with 20% off George schoolwear. It had also invested heavily in staff training around product choice and sizing.

That said, for the quarter as a whole, George clothing sales fell 3.9% like-for-like as it focused on full-price sales outside of schoolwear.  But George online revenue rose 3.9%.

Asda added on Thursday that its net debt at the end of June was £3.9 pounds and it remained committed to further de-leveraging.

It said it would invest in core grocery lines, improving efficiencies, adding more staff hours to ensure shelves were replenished faster, and growing its customer loyalty programme to drive a return to growth.

Written with Reuters