Co-op Group keeps ship steady with £9.4bn turnover

THE Co-op has today announced its annual results – showing it is maintaining steady progress after a year of heavy investment in the group.

Group turnover has remained level at £9.3bn for 52 weeks ending Jan 2, 2015 (2014: £9.4bn).

Profit before tax stood at £23m (2014: £124m). The group said this reflecting major investment in the business over the year and also explpained that 2014 profits had been bolstered by £121m from one-off disposals.

Underlying pre-tax profit stood at £81m (2014: £73m) but Co-op warned that 2016 profits would be lower because of its continued investment in the group.

Food like-for-like sales grew by 1.6%, with like-for-like volumes up 5% and the core convenience food business is winning market share after investment in price and products, with like-for-like sales up 3.8%.

Over the next year the group plans to open 100 new stores and refit a further 150 existing sites.

Funeral sales increased by 9.9%, driven by highest death rate since 2008. The group plans to open another 200 funeral homes in the next three years, increasing size of estate to over 1,100 homes.

General Insurance sales performed in line with expectations, as it starts to deliver against its member-focused strategy and it added that in 2016 it expects  to make “significant progress” as it moves across to a new IT platform.

Richard Pennycook, chief executive of The Co-operative Group, said: “This has been a year of further progress at the Co-op as we have invested to drive the growth of our businesses.

“Underlying profits have increased but our priority this year has been on putting the building blocks in place for the long-term. Whether it’s our investment in lowering prices, rewarding colleagues or campaigning on key issues, we are taking the right steps and the performance of our businesses and the feedback from our members shows us we are on the right track.”