Friday, 30 September 2016

Aldi to invest £300million since Brexit

Aldi

German supermarket giant Aldi investing nearly £300million in opening 70 new stores and refurbishing more than 100 UK stores, after posting another year of record sales.

It will take the number of stores from the German-owned grocer from 659 to 1,000 by 2022.

The revamped branches will have fixtures for beers, wines and spirits and fresh produce, spruced up, as well as a new 'food to go' features implemented.

Chief executive Matthew Barnes said the firm's investment plans have been "unaffected" by the Brexit vote and said the the move comes after a "listening exercise" with its shoppers.

Aldi also pledged to make substantial investments in two existing distribution sites, as well as redeveloping its UK head office in Atherstone, Warwickshire, and opening a new distribution centre in Cardiff next year.

It comes as Aldi revealed sales grew by 12 per cent to £7.7billion in 2015, with Aldi doubling its turnover in just three years.

The company confirmed like-for-like sales were in positive territory, but Mr Barnes admitted they had slowed.

And operating profits had been hit by the supermarket price war, dipping 1.8 per cent to £255.6m.

Aldi has cut prices on 30 per cent of its products this year, according to Mr Barnes.

And the chief said he would continue to invest in prices in order to maintain a "significant price advantage" over rivals.

He said: "Regardless of what competitors may say or do, our price advantage will be maintained and our customers will always pay the lowest grocery prices in the UK."

Aldi said 761,000 new customers walked through its doors last year, helping its market share grow to a record high of 6.2 per cent.

And that its online store, which was launched in January, is seeing 11,000 orders per week, ahead of expectations.

Mr Barnes said: "During the past five years we have invested close to £1.7bn in the UK by opening more stores than any other supermarket and enhancing our distribution capabilities.

"Our future capital expenditure plans are unchanged - we will continue to make significant investments in our business, paying our employees more than any other supermarket."


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