Co-op reports strong trading as convenience stores shine

Chris Barry
8th January 2014
Thebusinessdesk.com
THE Co-operative Group has reported impressive festive trading figures over the Christmas period in its grocery convenience stores.
After what has been a turbulent few months for the Manchester-based mutual as restructuring of the Co-op Bank has dominated, the group described the performance of its food business as “strong” as like-for-like sales in the 13 weeks to January 4 rose 1%.
The group has around 2,800 food stores, of which 90% are convenience shops.
In the same period the convenience stores saw like-for-like growth of 3.2%. In the three weeks covering the Christmas period to January 4 there was 3.5% growth in sales on a like-for-like basis and in convenience stores like-for-likes were up 5.4%.
Overall total food sales for the quarter were largely unchanged on the previous year at £1.7bn, reflecting the sale of a number of larger stores over the period, in line with the strategy to focus on convenience offering.
Sales in the pharmacy business were 1% up over the quarter, while there was dazzling like-for-like growth of 28.2% in its Stockport-based online electrical business.
Group chief executive Euan Sutherland said the trading figures were “very encouraging” , reflecting the hard work of employees and customer loyalty at a time when the issues in the Bank had been dominating the news.
He added: “The recapitalisation of the bank at the end of last year represented an important milestone and now we can see that the foundations of the wider group, through its trading businesses, remain strong.
“There is still a huge amount to be done across the Group and I remain convinced of the great potential to be realised for customers and members.”
Steve Murrells, retail chief executive said: “Looking ahead, we believe that our core convenience stores should continue their strong performance. Through the rest of the year we will continue to further develop our food strategy and customer offer around the core convenience estate, where we have a leading market presence and position.”