UK sales at German discounter Aldi rose 11% to reach £11.3bn in the year to December 2018 as it opened more than a store a week and pulled in 800,000 extra shoppers.
However, pre-tax profits dived 18% to £182.2m as the retailer invested £530m in expansion and cut prices on 500 items, about a third of its range.
The chief executive, Giles Hurley, said the profits decline was not a concern. “We are a long-term business not like other supermarkets. We are focused on sales, stores, customer numbers and growth,” he said.
More than half of British households shop at Aldi at least occasionally and Hurley said the chain accounted for 40% of the growth in the market. He said it was focused on gaining new shoppers rather than increasing profits.
While sales growth slowed to 11% from about 17% the previous year, Hurley said sales at established stores continued to rise and in the next two years, Aldi plans to invest a further £1bn in about 100 new stores, as well as distribution centres to serve them. It will also upgrade dozens of existing outlets.
The group, which opened its first UK store in 1990, is aiming to increase the number of stores it has from 840 to 1,200 stores by 2025. It has also teamed up with online electrical retailer AO.com to deliver more non-food goods.
Online sales for the group reached £100m as it expanded beyond selling wine and non-food special buys for home delivery of spirits and packaged items, including coffee pods.
Hurley said: “We are watching the online grocery market with a real degree of interest.” But food delivery, which is loss-making for several rivals, was a very challenging area, he said.
RPA Perspective German discounters Aldi and Lidl have had a huge impact on the UK grocery market over the past decade, after initially failing to find traction in the UK.
Hurley said the retailer was shaking up the British grocer market with its promise to be significantly cheaper than mainstream rivals who had been forced to “sharpen their game”.
Aldi lowered prices on 500 products in the past year as it responded to reductions by rivals including Tesco, Asda and Sainsbury’s. Hurley said the chain would always maintain a significant price gap with the big chains as part of an unbreakable contract with customers.
Aldi is focusing on opening stores in London, where it has 45. It aims to have 100 by 2025 and potentially 250 within the M25 in the longer term, about 50 of which could be in the group’s new small format. These are, on average, only about 600 sq m, just under half the size of a typical Aldi.
“Our market share is only 3.4% in London compared to 8.1% nationally,” said Hurley, “Clearly there is a significant opportunity.” Stores are planned in Sydenham, Blackheath and Watford in the coming year.
