A spokesperson for the company this morning said, “The jobs that have been created are for stores which are being upgraded, extended or for new stores.

“Two stores in Scotland — Blairgowrie and Coatbridge — are to benefit.

“Other stores may receive one or two extra staff, but won’t have a rise in any significant numbers.

“The 7500 jobs are to be created over the next six months. I do not know the projection after this.”

Tesco is Scotland’s biggest private sector employer, employing more than 22,500 people in Scotland and working in partnership with hundreds of Scottish producers and suppliers.

During the past six months three new Express stores opened — two in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow.

Commenting on the 18.7% rise in pre-tax profits, Terry Leahy, chief executive, said, “By improving the shopping experience for customers, we have been able to deliver another good performance in a more challenging year.

“Looking forward, the accumulating effects of rising oil-related costs, both on consumer confidence and on our business, are a cause for concern, but we remain confident that we will make further progress in the second half.”

There are currently 1780 Tesco stores in the UK, with 86 in Scotland. Their share of the grocery market is now estimated to be 30.5%, up from 28.1% a year ago, according to research group TNS.

Last month, US superstore giant Wal-Mart — which owns Asda in the UK — called for the government to launch an investigation into Tesco’s domination of Britain’s supermarket sector.