Aldi UK targets doubling of London stores

LONDON (Reuters) - The British arm of German discounter Aldi plans to almost double its 60-strong store estate in London, it said on Monday.

Last year Aldi UK, owned by Germany’s Aldi Sud, overtook Morrisons to become Britain's fourth largest grocer. It currently trades from about 990 stores and has a UK grocery market share of 9.2%, according to researcher Kantar.

However, it is relatively under represented in the capital, which partly reflects a shortage of suitable sites.

To help identify sites, Aldi UK is offering property agents a finder’s fee of either 1.5% of a freehold price or 10% of the first year’s rent for leasehold sites, for recommending a previously unknown site.

Aldi UK's overall store target is 1,200 by 2025. It invested 700 million pounds ($843 million) in 2022 and plans to invest 600 million pounds in 2023.

Last week Aldi UK said it would create over 6,000 jobs this year.

($1 = 0.8304 pounds)

(Reporting by James Davey; editing by Sarah Young)