The East of England Co-op has returned to profit after a year of investment and reshaping of its business portfolio.
The regional co-operative made a trading profit on continuing operations of £1 million, recovering from a loss of £3.6m the year before.
However, its revenue slipped from £393.3m to £384.2m over the 12 months to 25 January 2025, following several planned business disposals.
Andy Rigby, Chief Executive Officer for the East of England Co-op, said, “We’re proud to be announcing a return to profit this year. This is an ambition we’ve been working towards for the past three years, so it’s a moment for us to celebrate as we mark the start of an exciting period of growth.
"The next challenge for us is ensuring this profit is sustainable for our co-op and the colleagues, members and community that make us.”
Addressing the challenging economic landscape, he commented, “Rising costs are still having an impact on businesses and communities in our region and across the country.
"We are continuing to feel the impact of this challenging financial situation.
"Our return to profit is a monumental achievement in the current financial landscape, but we’re realistic that it’s a challenge we’ll continue to face as we make our return to profit sustainable.”
Highlighting the retailer’s continued growth, Rigby said, “For the second year running we’ve grown our business into new territories, with our family of businesses now operating across five counties for the first time in our 155-year history.
"Following the successful expansion of our Food business into Cambridgeshire in 2023, we opened our first Hertfordshire Food store in Bishop’s Stortford this summer.
“As we celebrate our return to profit and growing our business, we also recognise that this has been a year of difficult decisions. We’ve been reshaping our store portfolio, making sure we’ve got the right stores in the right places.
"Our reshape has led to the closure of our stonemasonry business H.L. Perfitt, the proposed leasing of three of our supermarkets to new operators and placing 13 branches across our food and funeral business as well as our central office, Wherstead Park on the market for sale.
"We have made these decisions with the future sustainability of our co-op, its members, customers and colleagues as our top priority. Our focus is on investing in the refinement and growth of our business, providing new, modern facilities for our members, customers and clients in new locations throughout the East of England.”
Looking ahead, Rigby said: “I’m expecting another year filled with both opportunities and challenges.
"We remain a business in transition. We have an exciting pipeline of new stores and branches and will be continuing our refurbishment programme. In our journey to sustainable profit, we’ll need to continue our investment in our estate and in the technology that helps us to drive efficiencies.
"However, we’ll also need to absorb the increases in the National Living Wage and National Insurance contributions. Being profitable allows us to continue building our co-operative for the next generation, so this must be our focus.”
