Tesco to create hundreds of jobs in the North

Hundreds of jobs are being created by supermarket giant Tesco which announced today it is opening its first hypermarket in the North.

The Tesco Extra store – with a wide range of non-food items – will open at Knocknagoney Road in east Belfast, where it has an existing superstore.

It will be open for business before the end of the year.

The news came as Tesco, the North’s biggest retailer, announced a 14.1% increase in sales for the first half of the year to £28.1bn (€35.7bn) – delivering an underlying pre-tax profit of £1.453m (€1.8m).

The company said over 350 jobs will be delivered this year in the province as local customers and suppliers continue to benefit from the supermarket group’s commitment to buying locally.

It said over 200 new products had been added in the last year taking the number of lines to over 1,000 from 88 food and drinks suppliers across the region.

Its Community Champion project is finding new and better ways to help the neighbourhoods it operates in, said Tesco – with more planned for the North joining Ballygomartin, Belfast and Enniskillen stores which each have dedicated Community Champions helping forge links with the community.

Commenting on its latest figures chief executive Terry Leahy said: “Tesco is at its best in tough markets – responding to the changing needs of customers - and that’s why we have been able to make good progress this year, despite facing into powerful economic headwinds and carrying planned start-up losses in the US.”