Profits from Lidl’s UK stores almost quadrupled last year to a record £156.8 million as it prepares to open its 1000th discount supermarket.
Latest accounts for Lidl GB, the country’s sixth biggest grocer, show pre-tax profits in the 12 months to 28 February soared from the previous year’s £43.6 million.
Revenues at the German-owned discounter were up almost 8% to £11.7 billion, making it Britain’s fastest-growing physical supermarket chain. The company said £400 million of revenue growth came from winning custom from rivals.
Lidl is Britain’s sixth biggest supermarket group with a market share of 8.2%, according to latest figures from analysts Worldpanel. But it looks set to overtake slower growing “big four” supermarket Morrison’s, which has an 8.3% share, in the coming months.
It is 31 years since the then unknown supermarket chain launched its first UK store at Lutterworth, Leicestershire. Since then Lidl and its bigger German-owned discounter rival Aldi have shaken up the British grocery market grabbing almost a fifth of all spending in a market previously dominated by Tesco, Sainsbury’s, Asda and Morrison’s.
Their growth has been accelerated by historic slowdown in living standard advances in the UK since the financial crisis of 2008, which has resulted in shoppers seeking out bargains in their everyday spending.
Lidl is expecting to pass the 1000 store mark before Christmas with 13 more branches planned in the rest of 2025 and 40 by the end of the financial year, creating 1,500 new jobs.
Ryan McDonnell, Lidl GB CEO, commented on the performance: “Our results reflect the momentum we’ve built and the trust shoppers place in us. More households are choosing to shop with us more often, because we continue to deliver on our promise of outstanding quality at the lowest possible prices.
“Over the last year we have continued to operate with our discounter efficiency at the heart of everything we do, all the while investing strategically in areas that will benefit our people, suppliers and communities.”
In August the discounter completed a £285 million extension of its London Belvedere distribution centre, while work has commenced on a new £150 million, 38-acre site in Leeds.
