Tesco has announced plans to create 26,000 jobs this year, including 11,000 in Britain, as its growth shows no sign of slowing down.
The announcement came as the supermarket giant unveiled annual pre-tax profits of over £3.1bn, the largest ever full-year earnings for a British retailer .
As a result, Tesco has overtaken French retailer Carrefour to become the world’s second-biggest retailer, in profit terms, after the US giant Wal-Mart .
Tesco also said that despite conditions in the UK market being the toughest for the past decade, it will continue with plans to increase its selling space in Britain by up to 7 per cent every year.
Chief executive Sir Terry Leahy said that the 2009 expansion programme would also boost employment in the wider economy, with around 7,500 jobs expected to be created in areas such as construction.
He explained that despite the on-going recession, “it is actually a very good time to expand” as new stores can be built “more cheaply”.
“Capital costs are down by 20 per cent and so we can get a lot more stores for our money,” he said.
The chief executive also revealed that Tesco will announce a £100 million relaunch of its popular Clubcard loyalty scheme next month in an attempt to win back shoppers from its major rivals Asda, Sainsburys and Morrisons, and boost customer loyalty.
Leave a Reply