Littlewoods to add 2,000 retail jobs

Littlewoods, the chain store and football pools group that has sacked two of its top directors in the last six months, is to create 2,000 new jobs in its retail divisons, including 500 positions at its head offices on Merseyside. The announcement follows a decision by the company last year to cut 560 jobs from its football pools division as a result of competition from the National Lottery.

The privately owned group, which has sales of £2.7bn a year, says it is opening six new Littlewoods stores and six new branches of Index, the catalogue shops The mail order business is also taking on new staff, bringing Littlewoods' group total to 32,000.

The company has been rolling out a new-look Littlewoods, with a changed fascia and layouts and improved fixtures and fittings.

The jobs announcement co-incided yesterday with Littlewoods' results for the year to 31 December, which showed the effect of the "feel bad" factor.

Group pre-tax profits fell from £114.8m to £110m with profits at the chain stores down nearly a third to £24.5m. The Index catalogue made losses of £5.8m against £7.5m last year. Home shopping was Littlewoods' only retail division to increase performance last year, with profits up slightly to £73.4m.

The football pools business, which recently announced a simpler system with more chances to win, saw profits rise from £25m to £27.6 m as a result of aggressive promotion, though the company is losing 10 per cent of sales to the lottery. The company plans a big television advertising campaign in April in an attempt to reclaim lost ground.