Co-op proves more popular than ever

Financial Highlights

• Group sales £13.7bn + 31%
• Trading Group sales £11.6bn + 37%
• CFS sales £2.1bn + 6%
• Underlying Group operating profit before significant items £473m + 20%
• Underlying Trading Group Profit £338m + 22%
• Underlying CFS Profit £177m + 21%
• Profit before payments to and on behalf of members (equivalent to the pre-tax profits of a plc) £402m + 85%
• Members' funds £4.5bn + 15%
• Dividend paid to customer members £55m + 16%
• Net borrowings £1.6bn +£949m

Out later will be detailed results but in general insurance, for example, gross written premiums were up 7.6% to £424.3m with the £29.9m of new business coming from intermediaries and aggregators. A spokesman said to expect profits to be up on the previous year.

The Co-op has had a busy 2009. This includes the acquisition of Somerfield to become the UK's fifth largest food retailer, and the Co-operative Financial Services' (CFS's) merger with Britannia to create the UK's first "super mutual" as the Co-op likes to call it.

It reported 16 successive quarters of like-for-like food sales growth with them up 5.5% year on year. And in finance it is said it had seen a 38% growth in new bank current accounts and a 30% uplift in life and savings new business premiums.

But in typical Co-op style it also flags up all the things that only a co-op would see as important - its social achievements.

• £11.3m invested in communities in 2009
• £6.7m raised for charity this year
• Voted Responsible Retailer of the Year - for the third year running
• CFS voted Best Financial Provider by Which? Magazine
• Relaunch of The Co-operative Bank's customer-mandated Ethical Policy
• 250,000 young people benefited from Group community projects covering renewable energy and recycling
• £5m pledged to support the co-operative enterprise hub
• CFS Toxic Fuels campaign raising awareness of the impact of tar sands extraction
• The Plan Bee campaign raising awareness of honeybee decline, funding research, and encouraging people to help bees and plant bee-friendly wildflowers
• 15% reduction in packaging target met a year ahead of schedule

And the Co-op has every reason to gloat. The mainstream political parties are all now talking positively about the co-operative model, something Peter Marks, group chief executive, was happy to play up.

"These are record results in what has been an historic year for The Co-operative Group. Our business has continued to thrive in spite of economic pressure, and I am pleased to report that we are on track with the integration of both Somerfield and Britannia.

"And, it seems, our business model has never been quite so relevant," he said.

"It is no coincidence that our business model is in vogue with the mainstream political parties who see consumer and employee-owned co-operatives as a potential solution to some of the issues faced by the public sector.

Invest in people

"This is great news and I wholeheartedly welcome it. If these plans are to work, however, they must be underpinned by an unswerving commitment to investing in the people who can deliver the renaissance that public sector services so badly need.

"Without the right leaders, managers and staff to drive change, and create first class businesses, the benefits of co-operative ownership will be lost.

"I am keen to ensure that the Group plays its part in fostering new forms of co-operative ownership, and where better than within the world of education. We are supporting Co-operative Academies in Manchester and Stoke to help develop the creative talent of tomorrow.

"This is part of a wider vision of ours to broaden the involvement of parents, pupils, teachers and the community in the provision of education through the establishment of Co-operative Trust Schools which we expect to number 200 by the year end.

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