These are very exciting times for us and our continued multi-million investment in opening new stores

Paul Ritchie, Tesco Store Director, Scotland

Additional jobs will also be created at new stores in Alloa and Cumbernauld.

Extra staff will also be taken on at expanding branches in Forres and Elgin, both in Moray, and in Edinburgh.

Paul Ritchie, stores director for Tesco in Scotland, said: "Our commitment to opening new branches and improving existing stores is creating local employment and vastly improving levels of service and product range.

"These are very exciting times for us and our continued multi-million investment in opening new stores is helping to regenerate urban centres including Glasgow and Alloa."

Tesco is expanding north of the Border

Mr Ritchie said the company was already planning an additional regeneration project in Shettleston, in the east end of Glasgow, which could create a further 350 jobs if planning permission was granted.

Tesco plans to improve all its Scottish stores over the next year to provide a better range of products and make store layouts easier to follow, he added.

The jobs news coincided with Tesco's interim results which were published on Tuesday.

Underlying pre-tax profits rose 14% to �481 million during the 24 weeks to August 11, while overall sales were ahead 14.2% at �11.5bn.

Internet expansion

Tesco, which broke the �1bn barrier for full-year pre-tax profits in April, announced on Sunday it was making �100m worth of price cuts.

In April, it announced that it would be expanding its Internet shopping service, Tesco.com.

It said it would be creating 900 jobs across Scotland over the ensuing six months.

The company also said it planned to increase its �600 annual investment in Scottish food companies.