Whole Foods Market

Organic grocer Whole Foods Market has revealed in its latest set of company accounts that it is continuing to make a loss in the UK, three years after launching in the country.

The US-based group, which operates five stores in the UK including a flagship 80,00ft2 flagship outlet in London, made a loss of £4.3m (€5.1m) in the country in the year to the end of September 2009.

Sales tumbled 12 per cent on the previous year to £43m (€51m) and same-store sales declined by 4.5 per cent, while revenues were impacted by the closure of a loss-making store in Bristol.

Despite the negative result, the losses were down considerably on 2008, when the group recorded a negative result of £35.9m (€42.3m), although that figure did include a £27m write-down on some of the group's stores.