THOUSANDS of North-East supermarket workers are to receive an unexpected cash windfall.

Staff at supermarket chain Safeway were told last night that every one of them is to share in bonuses.

The group celebrated a 33 per cent rise in profits by announcing £25m of staff payouts, 80 per cent of which will go to employees working in its supermarkets, logistics and support staff.

The bonuses work out at an average of £400 each for the 96,000 eligible staff.

Part-time staff will receive a pro-rata bonus, based on the number of hours they work. The executives of the company will also be well looked after, sharing in £4.4m.

The massive payouts signal that Safeway's revival is complete.

The group said it now planned to concentrate on developing hypermarkets, refitting old stores and introducing more services such as dry cleaning and photo developing.

Safeway's final pre-tax profit of £314.5m, up from last year's £236.1m, is still well short of the £1bn reported by rival Tesco last month.

Chief executive Carlos Criado-Perez, who took over in late 1999, is the man credited with turning around the once ailing supermarket chain. He said the results were "just the start.

"We are already busy on the second phase of our growth which will see our stores deliver a dramatically new and better shopping experience."

The Hayes group saw like-for-like sales grow by 5.2 per cent during the year to the end of March, with total sales up 7.3 per cent to £8.94bn.

During the period, the group attracted and retained more than a million new customers, as well as seeing its existing shoppers spend more.

It will focus on its "four pillars" of "great offers, outstanding fresh foods, consistent availability and top-class service", and would continue its weekly promotions to tempt more people into the stores.