Lidl ramps up expansion plan in grocery war

LIDL will create 4,000 jobs in the UK as it aims to have 1,100 stores in the country by 2025.

The discount supermarket chain, which currently has 880 shops, was previously planning to raise this to 1,000 by 2023.

But yesterday it said it has extended its store opening programme with plans to hit 1,100 shops in 2025.

The additional 100 outlets will feature solar panels and electric car chargers.

Lidl, which has 26,000 employees in the UK, said this month it will become the country’s highest paying supermarket, boosting its starting salary from £9.50 to £10.10 from March next year.

It comes on the back of a pandemic sales boom, with revenue in the year to February 28 jumping 12pc to £7.7bn.

The restrictions saw people stockpile food and items like loo roll, while restaurant closures meant more people cooked at home.

The shift helped Germanowned Lidl bounce back from a pre-pandemic loss of £25.2m to make a £9.8m profit in its latest financial year. Over the 12month period, it repaid more than £100m of business rates relief and opened 55 shops.

Chief executive Christian hartnagel said: ‘The market is in a decline compared to the previous year, we are seeing a little bit of a normalisation of shopping habits.’ he also said this Christmas is going to be ‘harder than ever’ as it is struggling with disrupted supply chains, staff shortages and Covid outbreaks.

Lidl is the country’s seventh biggest supermarket with 6.2pc of the market. Rival German discounter Aldi is the fifth largest with 7.9pc of the market. Shore Capital retail analyst Clive Black said the two stores have brought ‘a lot of value’ to UK shoppers but Lidl’s growth is likely to slow.