ASDA - comment
The lost equal pay case (subject to appeal) is a negative for creditors but is manageable for the company. As ASDA will appeal the judgement, there is no immediate cash outflow. If the appeal fails, the case will cost £1.2bn, less the indemnity from Walmart (size not disclosed). The gross amount equates to just over 1x of 2024 EBITDA, but that still leaves an equity cushion of over £5bn. The payout equates to £25k per successful claim, while the worker’s solicitors had said they expected around £20k per employee.