The Co-operative Group has reported its eighth successive quarter of like-for-like food growth, with sales over the Christmas and New Year period up 3.4 per cent.
Trade in food stores, overall, for the three weeks ending January 5 reached more than £275 million, up 5.2 per cent.
Highlights over the festive period included record sales of £24m on Christmas Eve, and like-for-like sales over the three weeks to January 5 were up 3.4 per cent overall, and up 6.2 per cent in convenience stores.
Like-for-like sales over the 13 weeks to January 5 were up 3.3 per cent, and up six per cent for convenience stores
The rebranded Co-operative Food stores have shown continued growth and, over the same period, sales were up 12 per cent in refitted convenience stores, and up 11 per cent in the five new format supermarkets.
Guy McCracken, chief executive of food retail, said: “This is a solid performance from the recently merged group and demonstrates the continued momentum within our food business. The group has now delivered eight successive quarters of like-for-like sales growth in an intensely competitive market, which is a great credit to our colleagues.
“Our Christmas sales performance demonstrates the success of our 'good with food' programme, especially the development of our convenience and premium ranges. This is set against declining cigarette sales and a very limited non-food offer, compared to the major supermarkets.
“The results from the rebranded stores shows that our customers are enjoying the new shopping experience and this augurs well for 2008, when a further 700 stores will be re-fitted to the new brand at a cost of £200m.”
The Co-operative Group and United Co-operatives merged on July 29 last year to create the world's largest consumer co-operative, with 2.5 million active trading members and more than 80,000 employees.
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