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Aldi is expected to create 2,000 new jobs next year on top of the 7,000 created over the past two years, as part of a £ 1.3 billion investment campaign.
The discount supermarket chain made the announcement of the investment, which will last two years, as bosses revealed sales climbed 10.2% in the UK and Ireland in 2020 to $ 12.3 billion of pounds sterling.
The bosses added that the number of customers during the period fell from 17.6 million to 17.8 million, although pre-tax profits fell 2.5% to £ 264.8 million.
No details on trading in the first nine months of 2021 have been provided immediately.
While other UK-based supermarkets give more regular updates on ongoing trade, Aldi is not obligated to do so and instead publishes last year’s results by filing its accounts with Companies House.
Giles Hurley, Managing Director of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “In addition to achieving record sales, we have continued to invest for growth, deploying over £ 600million in stores and distribution centers across the UK.
“It has helped create thousands of much-needed jobs and support UK farmers and manufacturers.
“While the cost of responding to the pandemic held back profits, our decision to reinstate trade tariff relief was the right thing to do.”
Aldi has reimbursed commercial tariffs saved by the government’s removal of the tax during the pandemic, following similar actions by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Asda and Lidl.
Going forward, the supermarket announced that its click and collect services have rolled out to 200 stores, giving shoppers the option of ordering online for the first time – although home deliveries are still not available.
A new cashless store is also planned in Greenwich, London, he said.
As part of the £ 1.3bn investment over the next two years, bosses said this will include around 100 new stores added to the 920 sites already in operation.
The expansion of its logistics infrastructure includes a new 1.3 million square foot site in Leicestershire.
There was no initial mention by Aldi of supply chain issues or price inflation suggestions, although the company said it had cut prices to the tune of £ 238million in the year last.
