Finland's S Group (SOK) has seen an increase in profit in the first half of its financial year to June 2023, following good performance in its hotels, restaurants and convenience store businesses.
Sales in the company's grocery division continued to grow at a rate that was higher than the rest of the market, and it paid a record number of bonuses to its customer owners.
Operating profit of the regional cooperatives and the SOK corporation for first six months amounted to €149 million, up by €83 million compared to the same period last year.
S Group added that its tax-free retail sales increased 7.3% year-on-year to nearly €6.9 billion.
'Strong Recovery'
CEO of SOK, Hannu Krook, commented, "In addition to the strong recovery of hotels and restaurants, operating income was boosted by good sales growth almost across the board, boosted by increased customer numbers.
"In this time, the cooperative store's strengths are highlighted: price competitiveness, the benefits of customer ownership, and success in assortment work and network reforms speak to the consumer. This can be seen particularly strongly in the grocery trade."
The company's investments in the first half amounted to €309 million, up by more than €50 million compared to last year.
It was allocated, among others, for improving S Group's service network, online shopping experience, digitalisation and energy efficiency in different parts of Finland.
Elsewhere, the company paid €213 million in bonuses – about €20 million more than in the first half of 2022 – to its customer owners.
It took onboard 17,000 young people as summer employees in regional cooperatives and other S Group companies.
