Aldi to invest £300m in UK as sales break record

Plans unaffected by Brexit or lower profits

The British arm of Aldi has said it will invest £300 million in store revamps after posting another year of record sales.

The cash will be used to spruce up its fixtures for beers, wines and spirits and fresh produce, as well as a new ‘food to go’ feature, with more than 100 stores to be refurbished next year.

Chief executive Matthew Barnes said the move was the result of a “listening exercise” involving more than 50,000 shoppers.

The German-owned firm pledged to open 70 new stores in the UK next year as part of plans to increase supermarket numbers from 659 to 1,000 by 2022.

Sales grew by 12% to £7.7 billion in 2015, with Aldi doubling its turnover in just three years.

Operating profits dipped 1.8% to £255.6m, which the firm put down to its “continued investment in prices” against a background of the UK supermarket price war.

Aldi said its future capital expenditure plans are “unaffected” by the UK’s decision to quit the EU, pledging to make “substantial investments”, including enlarging two distribution sites, redeveloping its UK head office in Atherstone, Warwickshire, and opening a new distribution centre in Cardiff next year.

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.

“We will continue to make significant investments in our business, paying our employees more than any other supermarket.”

Aldi said 761,000 new customers walked through its doors last year, growing its market share to a record high of 6.2%.