The Irish arm of discount retailer Aldi recorded a pretax loss of €20.1 million last year.
New accounts show that Aldi Stores (Ireland) Ltd took the loss even as revenue increased 1 per cent to €2.12 billion. That compared to 3 per cent growth in 2023.
The pretax loss of €20.1 million followed a pretax profit of €16.82 million in 2023 – a negative swing of €36.92 million.
In their report, the directors said “the reduction in profit reflects the company’s resolute focus on putting colleagues and customers before profits”.
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“The company made substantial investments to keep prices low for customers, in addition to further investment in staffing and remuneration,” they added.
The period under review “was another year of growth and investment in which the company made progress in line with its long term strategy,” the directors added.
The directors state that the company invested €92 million to improve and increase the company’s store and distribution network, resulting in the opening of two new stores and this followed six store openings in 2023.
Last month, Aldi opened its 165th store here with a new store in Monaghan and also served its one billionth customer here since arriving in Ireland in 1999.
The firm recorded an operating loss of €19.09 million. After tax, the firm recorded a loss of €21.18 million after a corporation tax charge of €1 million.
The loss also takes account of non-cash depreciation costs of €36 million and lease rental charges of €18.28 million. The firm recorded gains of €7.3 million from foreign exchange differences.
At the end of December 2024, the company had shareholder funds of €807 million including accumulated profits of €307 million.
The company’s cash funds reduced from €26.67 million to €17.8 million.
The directors state that “they believe the company’s strong financial position will help support future growth of the business”.
The most recent figures from Worldpanel by Numerator show that Aldi had a 11.4pc market share of the grocery market here.
Numbers employed by Aldi Ireland increased by 89 from 4,680 to 4,769 as staff costs rose 12pc from €196.79 million to €221.24 million.
Directors’ pay declined marginally to €1.8 million made up of €1.66 million in aggregate emoluments and €138,000 in pension contributions.
