Jobs created at Asda as sales rise
SUPERMARKET Asda has pledged to create 6,000 new jobs this year as its parent firm WalMart revealed like-for-like sales rose by 6%.
The Leeds-based group said it will create the jobs as part of plans to open 10 new stores and extend another 10 stores.
Asda said the £26m bonuses paid to store and depot staff will mean up to £437.50 each. The bonus pot is 18% higher than last year.
The retailer said it had a highly succesful 2009, attracting over 1m more customers per week.
Asda’s like-for-like sales growth without fuel was 6% for 2009 and 4.6% for the fourth quarter of last year.
Those with more than six months’ service at Asda will be eligible for the windfall.
Chief executive Andy Bond said the cold snap in December had hit Asda’s performance and impacted the chain “more than any other food retailer”.
“I believe this year is going to be tough for customers. Despite the official technical end of the recession, people are still worried about job security, and balancing family finances.
“That’s why as we entered the New Year, we renewed our focus on “every day low prices” and in January we launched our biggest and broadest range of Rollbacks for a decade.
“I firmly believe our everyday low price strategy is right for our customers, right for our suppliers, and right for our shareholder.
It smoothes out the promotional spikes in supply and demand, improves availability, lowers operational costs, which in turn benefits our customers through even lower prices.”
Mr Bond said Asda would look to grow further through a combination of smaller supermarkets and through its Asda Living format.
“Our growth strategy is in good shape and we are well set to open a new chapter and broaden and accelerate our business, grow customer numbers and increase our market share,” he added.
“And finally thanks to Walmart we will unlock the full potential of global sourcing allowing us to be even more aggressive on lowering the cost of living for our customers.”
Chet Kuchinad, people director at Asda, said: “To announce a record bonus payout and the creation of thousands of new jobs in a challenging economic environment is testament to the successful year that we have had here at Asda.”
