Aldi achieved another record-breaking Christmas as the discount supermarket enticed more Britons to buy cheaper goods and opened more stores. The German-owned chain, which has announced a new minimum hourly pay rate for its British staff from next month, said that it had recorded a sales rise of more than 15 per cent in December year-on-year, taking the total to more than £10 billion for the first time. Much of the growth came from an aggressive store opening programme. Analysts at Bernstein estimated that it generated comparable volume growth of about 2.5 per cent in the period. The group, which is the fifth biggest supermarket in Britain, has added 76 shops to its estate during the past 12 months and brought total shop numbers to…

Source: The Times January 05, 2018 00:02 UTC