Asda pledges 12 000 new jobs for UK

Asda has announced it intends to create more than 10,000 new jobs in the UK over the course of the next five years.

US owner Wal-Mart revealed that new stores are set to be opened by the supermarket chain in the south of England in the near future.

The announcement came following a meeting between Wal-Mart chief executive Doug McMillon and UK prime minister David Cameron in an Asda at Clapham Junction in London.

"I am delighted that Asda is continuing to invest heavily in the UK, creating another 12,000 jobs that will give people financial security for the future," said the prime minister.

Chief executive at Asda, Andy Clarke, told the BBC that it is a great time for a company to be looking at expansion plans and pointed out that the economy is recovering and Asda's results in recent months show the firm is "doing well".

He said: "We have been focusing on the discount, and the premium, market for some time."

Long-term goals

Asda's five-year strategy was announced by the company towards the end of last year, but this is the first time the company has seen fit to put a number on how many jobs it is expecting to create in the foreseeable future.

Mr Clarke also revealed that he believes Wal-Mart's investment in Asda is "fantastic news" for the British public and he told the BBC that the jobs would be created in superstores, smaller stores and in its online shopping facility.

Asda remains one of the biggest supermarket companies in the UK, although it is lagging behind Tesco, which is the market leader in this sector. Morrisons and Sainsbury's are the other major firms operating in the supermarket industry in the UK.

Some 172,000 people in the UK are already employed by Asda, so the new jobs will take that figure close to the 200,000 mark, which makes the company one of the biggest employers in the country in terms of open positions.

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