Asda's extra jobs boost

SUPERMARKET group Asda today said a £385m expansion programme had created almost 1,800 more jobs than originally hoped.

The posts, which have been created nationwide during this year, mean that Wal-Mart owned Asda has beaten its target of 3,900 new recruits.

Wal-Mart also reported a year-on-year increase of 16% in sales at its international arm to $11.5bn (£6.87bn) in the third quarter.

Asda, which accounts for about half this business, saw its sales rise around 11% in the period with a like-for-like increase in the 'high single digits', fuelled by more shoppers using its stores.

So far this year, around 300 staff have been taken on in Wigan and Sheffield following the transformation of existing stores into Asda Wal-Mart supercentres.

Jobs are also being created at six new UK stores with three more branches - at Chesser in Edinburgh, Halifax and Sutton, near London - due to begin trading on Monday. Another store in Stevenage, Hertfordshire, is to open in December.

Asda employs 122,000 staff at 265 sites across the UK. The new employees are in addition to the 10,000 temporary workers who learned in October they would be given permanent contracts entitling them to benefits such as store discount cards.

In today's third quarter figures, Asda's premium foods range - Extra Special - enabled it to take another bite into the business of its rivals with its market share up 0.5% to a new level of 13.1%.

Sales of Extra Special products have doubled over the past year and 100 new lines will be launched before Christmas, lifting the total to 460.

In clothing, the George label was taken out of the store and on to the High Street with two stand-alone stores trialled in Croydon and Leeds.

Trading at the stores since September has been 'encouraging' and the company said a decision on whether to launch more outlets would be taken within 12 months.