Central England Co-op sees dip in half-year sales

Central England Co-op has seen its gross sales decrease by almost £10 million from £487.3 million to £477.9 million year-on-year in the six months to August 7.

As per results announced by Central England Co-op today (20) for the 28 weeks to 7 August, the trading profit reported is £15.7m and gross sales is £477.9m.

Although sales were down by £10 million as compared to the same period last year, it is up compared to the same period in 2019 when the total reached £458.1 million.

Co-op added capital expenditure of £7.7m involving two new food stores and 23 refurbishments during the past six months, with more planned in the coming second half of the year.

Chief executive Debbie Robinson said: “Thank you to our members, for your loyalty and support, and thank you to our valued colleagues across our family of Co-operative businesses for making sure our members and customers in the communities in which we serve could access the food and goods they needed, as well as providing consistently high standards of care for the deceased and support to the bereaved.”

President Jane Avery said: “We have not sat on our laurels and taken it for granted that those who discovered us during the pandemic would remain loyal but have continued to innovate and attract and retain new customers. What we do, the success we have, is done for and on behalf of our members. This model has worked successfully for over 175 years and has been resilient in good times and bad.”