Aldi has unveiled its largest ever package of annual investment, ploughing £800m into accelerating its expansion across Britain as its sales and profits spike.
In the 12 months leading up to December 2023, the German discounter’s sales jumped by £2.4bn to £17.9bn – a 16% surge that marked its highest-ever sales growth.
Pre-tax profit grew to £536.7m, up from £152.6m in the previous year, thanks to both the record sales and improved efficiencies across its stores and central operations.
It achieved an operating margin of 3.1% over the year.
The discount grocer will spend £1.4bn over the next two years as it said its focus on lowering prices and opening stores would bring “high-quality, affordable groceries to millions more British families”, while creating thousands of jobs and more opportunities for British suppliers.
Aldi said it planned to open 23 new locations before the end of the year, including Muswell Hill, London and Caterham, Surrey.
It is also refurbishing 100 existing stores this year as well as expanding its network of distribution centres and updating technology infrastructure to support its growth.
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Aldi which currently has over 1,000 stores, previously launched plans to scale to 1,500 stores across the UK.
UK and Ireland CEO Giles Hurley said: “British shoppers are voting with their feet and choosing Aldi as their first-choice supermarket. We’re responding with our biggest ever annual investment in Britain.
“For every £1 of profit generated last year, we’re investing £2 this year – opening more stores and building the supply infrastructure to bring high-quality, affordable groceries to millions more families the length and breadth of Britain.
“We’re also investing at record levels to cut prices, reward our amazing colleagues and support more causes in our local communities. All while creating thousands more jobs and even more opportunities for our growing base of British suppliers and farmers.”
He added: “As we head towards the Christmas trading period, we’re all set to launch our biggest and best-ever seasonal range, including hundreds of premium range products at unbeatable prices for our customers.”
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