German supermarket giant Lidl recorded sales of just under £6.9bn (€6bn) in 2019 across its network of stores in Britain.

Recently filed accounts show Lidl GB opened an additional 51 stores in Britain during 2019, bringing its total number of stores above 800.

The German retailer said it invested almost €575m in the British market in 2019, opening new stores, a new distribution centre in Scotland, increasing its employee headcount and acquiring sites for future stores. Lidl says it plans to have more than 1,000 stores in Britain by 2023.

The accounts show the net asset value of Lidl’s business in Britain stood at more than £1bn (€910m) at year end 2019.

The book value of its network of stores stood at £3.5bn (€3bn). Employing almost 25,000 people, Lidl has a 6% share of the GB grocery market.

In the year just passed, Lidl said it hired an extra 8,000 employees to help with the unprecedented demand on retailers from COVID-19 restrictions and recorded sales growth of almost 20% over the important Christmas period.