Iceland to create 3,500 new jobs

Iceland Foods expects to create 3,500 jobs across the UK through the planned opening of 20 new stores this year and the acquisition of 51 former Woolworths outlets.

The company, which owns the chain of 663 Iceland stores and 45 Cooltrader outlets, said it had up to 30 new stores in the pipeline “to continue our ambitious opening programme into 2010”.

Results for the year to the end of March showed that group sales rose 16 per cent to £2.08bn, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation increased 36 per cent to £163m. Malcolm Walker, chief executive, said the record results underlined the recovery since he and other senior managers returned to the business more than four years ago.

“We have continued to increase our market share and our shoppers are spending more of their weekly budget at Iceland than ever before,” he said.

“More and more customers are rediscovering the benefits of frozen food – no mess, no fuss, no waste. This is helping Iceland to maintain strong progress in the current difficult economic climate, with like-for-like sales showing double-digit growth for the fifth consecutive year,” said Mr Walker, who last year made three attempts to buy the Woolworths retail chain.

Edward Garner, research director at TNS, said the company was benefiting from two trends in consumer behaviour – the search for value and the reassessment of the convenience of frozen food.

The company, which is majority owned by the Icelandic government following the collapse of the company’s banks, reduced its net debt from £180.2m to £85.4m last year. Mr Walker said it would be debt free by the end of the year in spite of the store opening programme.

He attributed the growth to the restoration of staff morale. He said that the pay of store managers had risen by 50 per cent over the last two years, and that 800 staff were being flown to Florida in October for a week’s holiday at the company’s expense. “Our staff are on fire, morale is so good.”