Tesco's non-food roll-out to create 7,500 jobs

SUPERMARKET giant Tesco is set to create 7,500 jobs over the coming five months as it expands the non-food side of its business, it was reported yesterday.

The group is expected to announce plans to open new stores in Britain and increase the sale of products such as homeware, clothes and DVDs over the coming months when it reports its interim results tomorrow.

A large number of the new jobs will be created when the supermarket opens its first stand-alone non-food store, branded Tesco Homeplus, in Manchester next month.

The group has plans to open another one of the stores in Aberdeen in the near future, and it is also looking to increase the amount of non-food products sold in its existing stores.

It has already tested selling bigger items such as garden furniture in its stores and it is considering further expanding its furniture offering, possibly through its website.

A Tesco spokeswoman said: "We will be making an announcement on Tuesday relating to jobs."

The group is widely expected to announce further record profits this week, with brokers estimating pre-tax profits for the six months to the end of August will come in at around £939 million (€1.4 billion), up from £822m (€1.2bn) a year earlier.

The forecast 14% improvement in profits will follow an expected 8% rise in British like-for-like sales as Tesco builds its share of the British grocery market to more than 30%.

The retailer broke through the £2 billion (€2.9bn) annual profits barrier in April, helped by further expansion into non-food areas and the development of its operations in locations such as Taiwan and China.

The supermarket's tills already take £1 out of every £8 spent on the high street in Britain, and this could be set to expand further as the group looks to boost the number of sites it has.

It is understood to have 185 development sites with plans to have opened 30 new supermarkets by early next year, while a further 56 sites already have planning permission for new stores.

The group currently has 546 supermarkets in Britain and 706 smaller convenience stores.

Tesco is also rumoured to be mulling over an expansion into the US through the acquisition of US grocery group Albertson.

The chain, which has 2,500 stores in 37 states and employs nearly a quarter of a million people, put itself up for sale earlier this month for $7.6 billion (€6.3bn).

The group is understood to be looking into bidding for Albertson and has sent a team over to the US, according to weekend reports.

Tesco has previously focused on expanding in China, where it has a joint venture, and Eastern Europe, where it has stores in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland.