Co-op defies retail gloom to post interim profit of £15.8m
MIDCOUNTIES Co-operative has overcome tough trading conditions and defied retail sector gloom to post increased sales and a £15.8m trading profit for the first half of the year.
Chief executive Ben Reid said the member-owned retailer, which operates food, post offices, travel, pharmacy, funeral, childcare, energy and employee benefits businesses, had continued to flourish despite the many challenges.
Announcing the half-year results, he said sales overall were up by 3.1%, and in the “very aggressive” market its food stores had generated a 2.4% increase in sales. Without the £1.3m cost of setting up the new Co-operative Energy business, he also revealed the society would have exceeded last year’s record £16.1m trading profit by £1m.
“It is a testimony to the strength of our business model that we can launch a national business such as Co-operative Energy, absorb the initial cost, but still produce an outstanding trading result,” he said.
“It is very difficult to predict when consumer confidence will improve but we have a real sense that by continuing to concentrate on getting the fundamentals of our co-operative business right we can emerge from this recession stronger. There may be challenges ahead but there are opportunities as well and with a strong balance sheet and good profits we are in an ideal position to take advantage of these.”
The figures for the 26 weeks to July 23, 2011 show gross sales at £387m (2010: £375m), with an increase in net assets of £5m to £180m.
The society, which is headquartered in Warwickshire and has trading outlets in Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Shropshire, West Midlands, Worcestershire and the surrounding counties, now has almost 23,000 new members.
