Aldi UK says shoppers trading up as inflation eases
Adds CEO comments in paragraphs 4-7
By Paul Sandle
LONDON, Sept 9 (Reuters) -Supermarket group Aldi UK said its prices this summer were on average lower than a year ago, easing some of the pressures on its British shoppers who were treating themselves to more of its premium ranges.
The country's fourth largest supermarket group reported on Monday a 16% rise in sales in Britain and Ireland to 17.9 billion pounds ($23.5 billion) in 2023, a year that saw grocery price inflation peak at 17.5% in March.
Chief Executive Giles Hurley said sales growth had slowed this year as inflation sharply declined, with the most recent 12-week data showing Aldi was achieving growth of 0.5%, compared to two-year growth of over 20%. That put it behind some of its rivals, including Lidl.
Hurley said the slowdown was not surprising, given Aldi was reducing prices ahead of the market.
"The latest data from Kantar shows Aldi is the only supermarket that's not inflating, while our own internal data shows that over the summer our prices were lower on average than they were a year ago," he told reporters.
He said times were still tough for millions of families across Britain and Aldi still offered unrivaled value for them.
"(But) I think some customers are feeling the effect of inflation easing, and they're choosing to trade up or possibly choosing to treat themselves at home instead of that restaurant experience in the hospitality sector," he said.
The company, which is owned by Germany's Aldi Sud, trails Tesco TSCO.L, Sainsbury's SBRY.L and Asda in sales.
Pretax profit in 2023 more than trebled to 536.7 million pounds, as its operating margin recovered to 3.1%, after falling to 1.2% in the prior year, largely due to pandemic-related costs.
Hurley said he was confident total sales would increase this year as Aldi opens another 23 stores, implements further price cuts and unveils its Christmas range.
Aldi will end 2024 with 1,050 stores in Britain, he said, adding its ambition to reach 1,500 was unchanged.
($1 = 0.7625 pounds)
Reporting by Paul Sandle; editing by Sarah Young and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
