Aldi has doubled down on its price promise to customers as it announced that its pre-tax profit declined by 86.5% to £35.7 million in 2021.
The supermarket attributed the fall to investment in prices, people and pandemic-related expenses.
It also revealed that it spent an extra £2 billion with UK suppliers last year to take the total to £11 billion.
In its annual trading update, Aldi said sales growth in the UK and Ireland slowed in 2021 with an uplift of just 0.9% to £13.6 billion. However, trading has accelerated in the last six months due to the lifting of pandemic restrictions and the impact of the cost-of-living crisis.
The supermarket said it has attracted 1.5 million extra customers to its stores over the past 12 weeks as it overtook Morrisons to become the UK’s fourth largest supermarket. It also revealed that sales of its premium Specially Selected range increased by 29% in the period.
In addition to opening new shops to add to its 970-strong network, Aldi is planning to expand or relocate dozens of existing stores and develop its network of distribution centres and technology infrastructure as part of a two-year £1.3 billion investment.
