INFLATION

German-owned supermarket discounter Aldi posted record sales yesterday, but at the expense of earnings falling 17 per cent as it focused on cutting prices to try and extend its footprint.

The company declined to split out its like-for-like sales figures, leading some City analysts to interpret the growth as based on new store openings as the big four British supermarkets hit back with their own price cuts.

Aldi, which has 75 stores and employs more than 2,000 in Scotland, said annual sales in the UK and Ireland rose 13.5 per cent to £8.7 billion in 2016 – a £1bn increase on the previous year.

The supermarket group added that it had attracted more than one million new customers in the year to date. It is estimated to have a UK food retailing market share of more than 6 per cent.

However, Aldi’s operating profits dropped 17 per cent – or £44 million – to £211.3m due to the ongoing investment drive,spending£450monnew store openings and refurbish-

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ALDI CHIEF EXECUTIVE ing its distribution centres. Aldi has said it also plans to launch another 70 UK stores in 2018 as part of a wider aim to open 1,000 stores by 2022. The group wants to increase its Scottish footprint to 100 locations by 2020.

Matthew Barnes, Aldi’s chief executive for the UK and Ireland, said: “Our growth is accelerating, thanks to the hundreds of thousands of new customers switching their shop to Aldi. This is happening right across the UK and is all down to a simple, straightforward commitment – products comparable to the leading brands and supermarket premium ranges at the lowest prices in Britain.”

He added: “We’re doing everything we can to insulate customers from those cost increases, making sure our prices are the lowest in the UK, every day of the year.

“At the same time, we’ve been improving the quality of our range and introducing the new products our customers have asked for.”

Aldi, which employs about

“We’re doing everything we can to insulate customers from those cost increases.”