Iceland boss Malcolm Walker Aldi rant: 'We've beaten the Germans and we'll f*****g beat them again'

Malcolm Walker, the boss of supermarket chain Iceland, has launched an expletive-laden tirade aimed at rivals Aldi, Lidl and Asda that references allied victories in the World Wars.

Walker, referring to Aldi and Lidl, told IBTimes UK: "We've beaten the Germans twice before and we'll f*****g beat them again. There are the Germans and then there's Asda, a bunch of f*****g Americans, we're inundated with foreigners, Iceland is a British supermarket."

Aldi and Lidl are German owned while Asda is owned by US giant Walmart.

The chief executive also claimed Iceland is already "as cheap as the f*****g Germans", referring to claims that Aldi and Lidl are unbeatable on price.

Iceland is struggling amid a brutal supermarket price war. In 2014, it reported flat like-for-like sales while earnings fell 11% to £202.2m (€280m, $300m). The numbers are expected to fall again in 2015.

Alongside Iceland, the traditional "big four" supermarkets – Tesco, Sainsbury's, Morrisons and Asda – have all seen their market share come under pressure as budget brands Aldi and Lidl have grown. British shoppers have shunned large supermarkets in favour of smaller convenience stores in recent years.

The entire sector has responded by slashing prices across the board. Although good news for consumers, it has created downward pressure on profit margins. While promising to invest further in reducing prices, Walker believes price is no longer the most powerful weapon in the war, but quality.

"Everybody is cheap now, every supermarket has cut prices. What differentiates now is quality. Iceland's problem has been highlighting that we have that quality," he said.

Walker critical of 'Guardian snobbery'

Walker also bemoaned what he called snobbery towards Iceland from "Guardian readers" and hailed the supermarket's new advertising campaign.

He said: "Iceland suffers from a perception that comes mainly from Guardian-reading Waitrose shoppers, that our product is inferior. It's just not true, and hopefully our new adverts with Peter Andre illustrate that. Before, we'd just bung some fish fingers on our adverts with a cheap price. But now, with Peter on the barbecue, it's about showing that we have scallops and really good stuff on offer. We're not just about cheap fish fingers."

Iceland recently launched a trial of a new Food Warehouse concept, where luxury items such as champagne and lobster will be sold alongside the supermarket's usual budget offerings. It has six such outlets and will expand if the trial proves successful, Walker said.

In 2014, Iceland completed a £980m refinancing, which led many observers to speculate an Initial Public Offering (IPO) could be on the cards. However, Walker moved to quash any suggestion of a floatation.

"The last thing on earth I want to do is list the company, no way. We're totally private, have no bank debt and are run by extremely supportive shareholders, we are the long-term greedy. Listed companies are obsessed with like-for-like sales, I don't give a s**t about like-for-likes," he said.

Lidl declined to comment. Aldi and Asda did not respond to requests for comment.

Today, Walker was one of 100 senior executives and businesspeople who signed a letter to The Telegraph, hailing Conservative economic policies which they say show that "the UK is open for business".