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The UK operation of discounter Aldi has posted a jump in annual profits in 2023 despite a fall in its market share in recent months.
The chain, which has just over 1,000 shops in the country, said pre-tax profits had increased to £536.7mn for the 12 months to December 2023, from £152.6mn the year before.
The numbers come after Aldi has suffered a rare reverse in market share in recent months, while rivals snapped up its losses. It at present accounts for 10 per cent of the UK grocery market.
Nick Bubb, an independent retail analyst, said: “There has been a lot of focus recently on the weak sales figures reported for Aldi UK by Kantar and Nielsen, but it sounds like the business itself has been concentrating on its bottom-line performance.”
The German group overtook Morrisons in 2022 to become the UK’s fourth-biggest grocer by market share, according to data firm Kantar, as sales boomed during the cost of living squeeze.
Sales in 2023 rose to a record, increasing by almost 16 per cent to £17.9bn, compared with £15.5bn — its strongest-ever period of sales growth, the company said, as shoppers continued to prioritise value despite falling inflation. Its profit margin increased to 3.1 per cent.
UK chief executive Giles Hurley said: “British shoppers are voting with their feet and choosing Aldi as their first-choice supermarket.”
The chain said it would open 23 new UK sites before the end of this year. It is on track to open 1,500 stores longer term although it ditched a target to have 1,200 sites by 2025.
Clive Black, head of consumer research at Shore Capital, said: “We see Aldi as a very effective supermarket operator, the disrupter of the 2010s in the British grocery scene, which is not going away, clearly, but is maturing and so [is] a more rational player in the big scheme of things.”
