German budget-retailer Lidl signalled the latest phase in its UK expansion with plans for a new head office three times the size of its existing one.
The new office, in Tolworth, south-west London, will house about 750 workers when it is ready towards the end of 2018, Lidl said recently. About 400 employees are located at the current headquarters in nearby Wimbledon.
The plan marks “another milestone in providing the infrastructure needed to cope with our ambitious store-expansion programme”, Ingo Fischer, Lidl UK’s director of property and development, said in a statement.
With market-leader Tesco and Morrisons both cutting head-office staff this year, Lidl’s move underlines the diverging fortunes of the UK’s supermarket chains. While Lidl and German counterpart Aldi are scooping up an ever-increasing share of spending with their no-frills offers, all the mainstream supermarkets are struggling for growth.
Since entering the UK in 1994, Lidl has increased its store count in the country to more than 620, and has plans to almost double that number. Last year, the retailer’s UK sales jumped 21 per cent to about £4 billion. The company declined to comment on its profit for the period.
News by Bloomberg, edited by ESM
