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* Q4 like-for-like sales, ex fuel and VAT, down 0.1 pct
* CEO notes huge regional variations in consumer demand
* Does not expect situation to change much in 2014
By James Davey
LONDON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Britain's economic recovery isfragile, with huge regional variations, the head of Asdasupermarkets said on Thursday as the company reported flat salesover the key Christmas quarter.
Andy Clarke, chief executive of the British arm of U.S.retailer Wal-Mart Stores, said he did not expect theregional disparities to change dramatically in 2014.
"The economy is still fragile and so customers still feelvery fragile," he told reporters.
He said levels of disposable income were hugely dependent onwhich part of the country consumers lived in.
"If you live in London and the south east and you've got 10percent housing value growth then it feels very different thanif you are in the northeast or Northern Ireland, whereunemployment is still a big challenge," he said, noting anunexpected rise in UK joblessness in data published onWednesday.
Clarke was speaking after British finance minister GeorgeOsborne warned on Thursday that Britain's economic recovery wasnot secure.
Asda, battling with J Sainsbury to be Britain's No.2 grocery chain, said sales at stores open over a year,excluding fuel and VAT sales tax, fell 0.1 percent year on yearfor the 13 weeks to Jan. 3, its fiscal fourth quarter, althoughit kept its gross margin steady.
The sales performance represented a slowdown fromlike-for-like growth of 0.3 percent in the third quarter,further illustrating how tough Christmas was for Britain's majorgrocers.
The UK's so called "top four" grocers, which also includemarket leader Tesco and No. 4 Morrisons, arestruggling to hold their ground in the face of competition fromhard discounters Aldi and Lidl andupmarket players Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
Monthly data published last week by Kantar Worldpanel showedthe slowest industry growth since 2005. Household incomes remainunder pressure because inflation is still outstripping payrises.
Tesco and Morrisons both reported underlying sales falls forthe Christmas period, while Sainsbury's eked out a small rise.
Asda said in November it would spend over 1 billion pounds($1.67 billion) on price cuts and product innovation and 250million pounds on product quality, style and design over thenext five years.
"We're under no illusions as to the structural changesfacing our sector and that is why we took early action to lookat how we need to move our business forward," said Clarke.
He said the firm "invested" over 60 million pounds in thefourth quarter to cut prices on basic items. In 2014, Asda plansto set aside 200 million pounds for price cuts and invest 750million pounds in store openings, extensions and refurbishment.
In 2013 Asda removed all short-term vouchering activity tofocus more on price.
"On all customers' minds is value and it is that valueequation - it's not just about price at any cost, it's thecombination of price and quality," said chief merchandisingofficer Barry Williams.
"And they're becoming, in my experience, less and lessinterested in gimmicks."
Wal-Mart on Thursday reported lower profit for the holidayquarter as comparable U.S. sales fell again.
