One of the world’s biggest consumer co-operatives, The Co-operative Group has published results for 2015, revealing a drop in revenue to £9.3 billion, compared with 2014’s £9.4 billion.
Its food like-for-like sales grew by 1.6 per cent in value, and 5 per cent in volume, while the group’s convenience business grew ahead of the market with like-for-like sales increasing by 3.8 per cent – bolstered by investments in price and products.
The Co-operative Group’s profit before tax of £23 million, (versus £124 million in the previous year) is described as a reflection of major investments made in the business throughout the year, while 2014’s was bolstered by £121 million from one-off disposals.
As part of the first year of the group’s 'Rebuild Phase', it raised the cost of its supporting functions from £129 million to £160 million, and brought pay for 40,000 of its employees above the UK’s National Living Wage Threshold with an 8.5 per cent increase.
Richard Pennycook, Chief Executive of The Co-operative Group, commented, "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."
He noted that the group’s underlying operating profits for 2016 are expected to be lower than in 2015, due to the continued investment in the Rebuild plan.
"We are, however, only one year into our Rebuild and whether it is driving further growth in our businesses, improving member engagement or getting back to our campaigning roots, there is still much to achieve," he said.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Jenny Whelan. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
