Safeway set to create 5,200 jobs plans new

Safeway is to create 5,200 jobs as part of an expansion programme that will see it open 15 superstores in the next 12 months and a further 15 the year after that.

Though more than half the jobs will be part time, they help make up for 5,000 job cuts made last year under the Safeway 2000 restructuring programme. This included the closure of some smaller, older branches and a shake- up of the management structure in stores. Safeway also added 3,250 jobs last year.

Safeway said additional jobs would be created through its joint venture with BP to open 100 convenience stores on petrol forecourts over the next three years. These sites will be rolled out from next April.

Several hundred more jobs will be added under Safeway's new Queuebusters scheme. Several hundred staff will be trained to be "multi-skilled" to be able to operate a check-out, work behind the delicatessen counter, or in whichever part of the store is busy. They will be easy to spot in bright yellow aprons featuring a large blue "Q".

Colin Smith, Safeway's chief executive, announced the job plans yesterday alongside a 7 per cent increase in pre-tax profits to pounds 228m in the six months to 12 October. He said Safeway's policy of targeting family shoppers helped by its high-profile "Harry and Molly" television advertising had proved a success.

"We are operating in a highly competitive sector but we have successfully focused on winning over big family shoppers. We are picking up speed."

Safeway is exploring entering the financial services market through a joint venture. However, it has ruled out following Sainsbury's with the launch of a fully-fledged bank.

The group is extending its "Shop and Go" scheme which lets holders of Safeway's loyalty card to scan their own shopping using hand-held "guns". A further 50 stores will be included taking the total to 150.

Safeway is also introducing automated pay-out terminals to enable customers to scan their own shopping and pay for it using debit or credit cards without encountering a single member of staff. A test is under way in the store in Reigate, Surrey.

More emphasis will be placed on own-brand products and a toy range is being added to 80 stores.

Safeway's like-for-like sales rose by 5.1 per cent during the period, slightly below the industry average. Net margins have remained steady in spite of the petrol price war which is now easing. "Margins are almost back to where they were last year," Mr Smith said.

Safeway is on target to beat its aim of increasing sales per square foot to pounds 15 by 1998. The current level is pounds 14.63 compared with pounds 12.86 in 1995.

Safeway's shares fell 1.5p to 369.5p on the results with some analysts describing them as "dull". Safeway's group sales were 9 per cent higher at pounds 3.7bn in the six months.

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