Aldi UK has posted record sales of £6.89bn in its last financial year – an increase of 31% on the previous year’s £5.27bn and the equivalent of £31m in extra sales revenue every week during 2014.
But operating profit fell marginally to £260.3m (2013: £271.4m) following “increased investment in prices and people”.
The business – which opened its first UK store in 1990 – has more than doubled its sales in the past three years and is now the UK’s sixth biggest grocer by market share.
During the same period, Aldi said it had invested a total of £878m in its UK expansion, following record capital expenditure of £438m in 2014 in new stores and regional distribution centres.
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Aldi also unveiled plans to launch an online operation early next year, starting by selling wine by the case, followed by non-food “Specialbuys” in the spring.
Matthew Barnes, chief executive at Aldi UK & Ireland, said: “Our focus on offering the best-quality products and range at unbeatable, straightforward prices is bringing more and more shoppers through our doors, helping us to achieve consistent market-leading growth in sales.
“We’re maintaining a significant price gap of at least 15% on an average basket of goods – people are seeing that value at the checkout, tasting the quality at home and coming back to do a full weekly shop, time and time again.
“As the grocery market continues to evolve, our unique model, operational efficiency, private ownership and financial strength mean we’re able to keep investing in our business – from people and presence to products and prices.”
Aldi operates 598 stores in the UK and says it is on course to achieve its target of 1,000 stores by 2022. It is on track to open 65 stores in 2015, up from 54 in 2014.
Barnes added: “At present, there are still 47% of households that don’t shop with us. We’re hugely excited about the enormous scope for growth over the next 25 years.”
Catherine Shuttleworth, chief executive of retail marketing agency Savvy, commented: “Aldi…continues to demonstrate an instinctive connection with the mood of the nation and is ideally positioned to serve the changing UK shop.
Date: September 28, 2015