Aldi saw its profits in the UK soar in 2012 – another set of data that underlines the discounter’s strong performance in the country.
The retailer, which Kantar Worldpanel data last week showed is enjoying “record” sales growth, said its profit after tax in the UK almost doubled last year to GBP112.6m (US$181.9m). Operating profit was up by more than two-thirds to GBP172.1m.
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Aldi’s UK revenue climbed 40.6% in 2012 to GBP3.89bn. The company opened 34 stores in the country last year. It declined to provide a figure for its like-for-like sales growth in the UK in 2012.
Nevertheless, the retailer insisted it had seen “increases in footfall, market share and basket size” at its UK stores.
Joint group MD Roman Heini said: “Whichever figures you look at, they all tell the same story of Aldi growth. Experts talk about polarisation among supermarkets as, along with Aldi, Waitrose is experiencing growth. We believe growth is down to one thing – customers demanding true value. They know they can always get high quality at low prices at Aldi.”
Aldi, which said it is “on schedule” to open 50 new stores in the UK in 2013, saw its sales grow 32.7% year-on-year in the 12 weeks to 15 September, Kantar Worldpanel said last week. Its market share stood at 3.7%, up from 2.9% in the corresponding period a year earlier.
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By GlobalDataKantar Worldpanel director Ed Garner said the growth of Aldi, discount rival Lidl and upmarket grocer Waitrose posed “a significant challenge for the big four supermarkets”.
“The combined growth of Lidl, Aldi and Waitrose has taken three market share points out of the grocery market over the past three years and is forcing the major supermarkets to compete for an ever-smaller middle ground,” Garner said.
On Wednesday, Tesco will report its financial results for the first half of its current fiscal year. On the same day, Sainsbury’s will provide a trading update for its second quarter.
