Aldi UK Profits Soar 65% to £260m

Budget supermarket Aldi's group operating profits for 2013 increased by more than 50% on the previous year, with UK turnover reaching a record high of £5.2bn, up from £3.89bn.

Aldi UK's pre-tax profit soared by 65% to £260.9m for the year ending on 31 December.

Group managing director of Aldi UK, Roman Heidi, said: "We keep prices constantly low while keeping product quality consistently high, which is exactly what shoppers want.

"They had become used to thinking you have to pay more for better products. We've shown them this doesn't have to be the case."

The latest grocery market share figures from Kantar Worldpanel showed that budget supermarkets are snapping up more of the market as conventional outfits such as Tesco continue to lose out.

In the latest statistics from Kantar, Aldi's market share is up to 4.8% while Lidl occupied 3.5%.

Aldi has gone on the offensive as it looks to take more retail activity from the likes of Tesco and Asda. It opened 42 stores in 2013 and is set to open another 54 this year.

"We're investing over £600m in our operations over the next two years to support this growth," said Matthew Barnes, Aldi group managing director.