The Co-operative Group has posted a return to profit.
The group reported a half-year underlying profit of £66 million for the 26 weeks to 5 July - down from a profit of £116m in the same half-year period in 2013, but bouncing back from the full-year loss of £2.5bn posted in April.
The food business saw like-for-like sales up by 1 per cent overall, albeit with underlying operating profit falling by just over 8 per cent to £107m.
Furthermore, the group has appointed Richard Pennycook as chief executive on a permanent basis, and has started to implement a three-year turnaround plan.
Pennycook, who had been working as interim CEO, said: “2014 has marked a defining period for The Co-operative Group. We have delivered the changes we set out including fundamentally reforming our governance and we are developing clear plans to drive our success for the future.
'We took the tough decisions to re-shape our group to ensure it is on a sustainable footing and the disposals of our pharmacy, farms and Sunwin Services businesses as part of this will repair our balance sheet.
'Our Group strategy is to build on our existing strengths as a convenience food retailer and to optimise the performance of our new consumer services division, comprising of funeral care, general insurance and legal services. We are now in a position to rebuild and restore the group and can look to the future with greater confidence.'
By the end of the year, the group's food business plans to have launched 100 new stores, with over 300 further refits, 800 new products launched and 4,000 products now under our 'Loved by Us' range.
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