Sales soar to £10bn

400 more stores

plans to open 130 over the next two years. But it went further by setting a target to have 1,200 UK outlets by the end of 2025.

The aim will pile pressure on Britain’s Big Four supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrisons – which have lost trade to Aldi and Lidl.

The pair account for nearly £14 in every £100 spent in grocers. Aldi’s market share jumped from 4% to 6.8% at the end of last year, since when it grown to 7.6%. Aldi claimed it attracted another 1.1million customers in 2017, who shopped at least once in its stores last year.

It also announced sales in the UK and Ireland combined surged 16.4% to £10.2billion.

Giles Hurley, chief executive of Aldi UK and Ireland, said: “The revolution in British grocery

Giles Hurley

shows no sign of slowing. Savvy customers know they can save with Aldi thanks to great quality products at lower prices.” Tesco has announced plans to take on the discounters by launching a budget chain called Jack’s. But Mr Hurley said: “It will be a real struggle for a more complex supermarket to successfully imitate our model.” Meanhas while, he said Aldi has been considering stockpiling food as part of Brexit preparations but he added: “Based on storage and shelf life that would be very challenging.”

Brexit Secretary Dominic Raab has said the Government is making plans to secure food supply in the event of no deal.

Aldi says it already sources around 77% of its products from the UK.