By Katie Linsell

Copyright independent

The supermarket chain is looking to open 80 stores in the period.

Its latest results for 2024 show that while sales gained, profits dropped 21pc as the grocer lowered prices, invested in infrastructure and increased salaries.

“As a privately-owned business we can take a long-term view,” Giles Hurley, chief executive officer of Aldi UK and Ireland, told reporters on a call.

“No matter what the circumstances, no matter what the profit outlook, our mission is to grow.”

The results show the ambition of the German grocer, which has shaken up Britain’s food scene since it opened its first UK store in 1990.

Aldi became the UK’s fourth-biggest supermarket in 2022, winning shoppers from rivals during Britain’s cost-of-living crisis, and its market share is now about 11pc.

In Ireland, Aldi has a bigger market share at close to 12pc but in a more concentrated market it is the fifth biggest grocery chain, behind German rival Lidl and the big three of Dunnes, Tesco and SuperValu.

In Britain, store openings have driven Aldi’s growth. It has 1,060 sites across the UK, with 21 opening in the next 13 weeks and a long-term goal to reach 1,500.

Rising food prices are making shoppers more price-sensitive and stoking competition among grocers. Aldi said last week it has invested more than £300m in price cuts since the start of the year, reducing more than 900 products.

Still, price cuts come at a cost for Aldi. Its UK operating profit fell to £435.5m in 2024, from £552.9m a year earlier.

Overall sales nudged up by 1.1pc to £18.1bn. They declined on a like-for-like basis, something Mr Hurley said was “inevitable” due to Aldi’s ambitions to grow.

Like its rivals, Aldi is having to pay higher national insurance contributions, while the minimum wage has also gone up. UK grocery prices are rising, stoked by higher operating costs, bad weather and poor harvests.

Ahead of the UK government’s next budget in November, Mr Hurley called for leniency toward the food sector to avoid further driving up prices.

“We do need domestic policy which challenges that stubborn inflation that we’re seeing at the moment,” he said. “We would encourage the government to adopt policies that don’t inadvertently add to the operating costs of businesses.”

Fierce competition is also affecting performance at rival grocers. Asda has warned that focusing on prices will lead to lower profitability this year while Sainsbury’s expects underlying operating profit from retail to remain around the same as last year.