Supermarket giant Lidl has announced plans to open hundreds more stores across the UK over the next four years after revenues in the last year jumped to almost £8billion.
The German grocer said it plans to take its 880 UK store count to 1,100 by 2025, having already opened 55 new outlets at the start of this year.
In total, the grocer will open 220 new supermarkets - a move it estimates will bring around 4,000 job opportunities to local towns and cities.
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 £7.7billion and it turned a pre-tax profit of £9.8million, compared to a £25million loss a year earlier.
Lidl is privately owned, meaning it does not need to publish more up-to-date sales data unlike its stock market-listed rivals.
Alongside the numbers, bosses said they opened 55 stores during the first year of the pandemic and spent £17.5million on boosting staff pay, including £8million on hourly wage hikes and £9.5million on bonuses during the Covid-19 crisis.
Profits may have been higher, although Lidl - along with most of its rivals - agreed to repay more than £100million in business rates savings when Chancellor Rishi Sunak scrapped the tax to support the high street.
Several "essential" retailers made the repayments due to spikes in sales as they remained open while other stores were closed.
Lidl GB chief executive Christian Hartnagel said: "We delivered an impressive trading performance in the period which was supported by our continued investment in new and existing stores, product innovation and our people.
"All of this contributed to growth in our revenue and profits and positions us well for further growth in the years to come."
The grocer also pointed out that customers are becoming far more environmentally conscious, which could pose a risk for Lidl if it does not tackle concerns around excess packaging and net-zero supply chains.
It said the supermarket will reduce plastic in its own-brand packaging by 40% by 2025 and cut the total amount of own-label packaging by 25% in the same year.
Despite the strong sales during the financial year, bosses also revealed Brexit has had a detrimental impact on the business.
The accounts state since the end of the transition period at the end of 2020 there has been an increase in administration for importing and exporting and warned customs agents are being stretched, which is limiting their ability to process goods more efficiently.
Lidl added it had suffered from delays at the UK border due to missing Government guidelines for some shipping lines, and seen costs rise on an item-by-item and shipment-by-shipment basis due to customs duties and import costs.
