Supermarket Lidl has announced plans to have 1,100 stores across the UK by 2025, creating 4,000 new jobs, after opening 55 stores during the first year of the pandemic.
It comes as the grocer published its accounts filed with Companies House for the 12 months to the end of February showing revenues jumped 12% to £7.7 billion and it turned a pre-tax profit of £9.8 million, compared to a £25 million pre-tax loss a year earlier.
Lidl remains on track to reach 1,000 stores by the end of 2023. The additional 100 new stores will be across England, Scotland and Wales and will feature solar panels and electric vehicle charging points. Sites of particular interest include town centres, retail parks and metropolitan locations.
Christian Härtnagel, Lidl GB CEO commented: “Our new store target today marks a significant investment for the business. We remain committed to our bricks and mortar strategy and maintaining our store opening pace; roughly a store a week for the next four years.
We will continue to bring our offer of great quality products at unbeatable value to even more communities across the country. I am also looking forward to welcoming even more colleagues to the Lidl GB team.”
New colleagues will benefit from Lidl GB’s industry leading pay. From March 2022, entry-level wages will increase from £9.50 to £10.10 an hour outside of London and £10.85 to £11.30 within the M25 from March 2022, with colleagues earning up to £11.40 and £12.25 respectively, depending on length of service. Other benefits include enhanced holiday entitlement, career development opportunities and a 10% colleague discount.
