Staff at Tesco will be rewarded today with their share of a £105m bonus pot in the grocery giant’s biggest ever shares scheme.

The ‘Shares In Success’ scheme will reward over 216,000 Tesco staff across the business after the retailer hit profits of £3.5bn for its full year.

This comes on top of £24m worth of pay and bonuses for Tesco’s executive management.

Staff who have held shares in Tesco’s share reward scheme since 2005 will also be eligible to sell £39m of shares that there were awarded tax free five years ago.

Tesco non-executive chairman David Reid said: “We’ve had Tesco’s best ever year in a really challenging economic climate and that success is down to the hard work and skill of the whole Tesco team. At home and abroad, they’ve helped build a great business by doing what we do best, delivering for customers. I am delighted that once again all staff are sharing in this success.”

Separately Tesco is reported to be launching a charm offensive to highlight its community work by holding 100 “community fairs” this year giving local manufacturers a chance to show their goods.Tesco’s rapid expansion has been criticised in the past for harming local high streets and smaller suppliers.

Tesco said that locally produced sales grew by over 20% in the UK and would reach £1bn this year.