THE owner of high street chains Superdrug, The Perfume Shop and Savers is set to create over 1000 new jobs over the next year as it presses ahead with expansion plans.
Superdrug plans to open 30 new stores, Savers 45 and The Perfume Shop 13 after the firms reported stellar growth in 2016, defying the gloom hanging over the high street.
Approximately 600 jobs will be created at Superdrug, 450 at discount health and beauty firm Savers and 78 at The Perfume Shop.
The trio are owned by AS Watson, which is ultimately controlled by Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-Shing.
AS Watson’s managing director Dominic Lai said: “We are under a lot of pressure, with Brexit uncertainty and sterling going down, but we will continue to invest in the UK.”
High street sales have been flattened since the Brexit vote, but Superdrug reported a 41 per cent rise in pre-tax profits in 2016, to £80.4 million.
Ka-Shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, backed Britain remaining in the European Union and last year warned that the fallout of Brexit will cause years of pain for both parties.
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