Figures show co-op holding its position amid tough trading conditions for retail
DESPITE choppy economic waters churned up by last summer’s Brexit vote, Edinburgh-based cooperative Scotmid has posted solid trading figures for the half year to 29 July, maintaining 2016 levels of profitability.
The latest figures from Scotmid reveal profits just shy of £2m, with turnover dipping by £800k on the same period last year to total £184.7m.
Scotmid’s continued profitability comes during what the co-op described as an economic environment of “unprecedented uncertainty” caused by questions around Brexit, as well as additional pressures coming in the form of the apprenticeship levy, an increase in the cost of imported goods, a net increase in business rates across Scotmid’s estate, and the inflationary impact of the National Living Wage.
Despite this, financial results for Scotmid’s food convenience business make for positive reading, with turnover growth driven by the rollout of food-to-go, according to the cooperative.
Further improvements can also be found through efficiency savings driven by Scotmid’s “make it simple” programme which aims to reduce unproductive tasks and simplify procedures across the business.
Scotmid chief executive John Brodie said the results are illustrative of a solid start to the year, despite challenges that the co-op has faced both economically and through cost pressures.
“Our trading level is marginally ahead of last year, but categorised it’s £2m for each year so yes, I’m satisfied that we’ve held our result,” he said.
“There’s an awful lot of hard work going on in a lot of areas to deliver the result in a difficult and challenging market.
“We’ve rolled out a Costa Coffee offering to virtually all our stores, we have our market-leading bacon roll and coffee offer across the estate, we have – in association with our buying group FRTS – done a lot of range changes, we’ve refitted a number of stores, and we’ve increased promotional shelving so there is a lot going on and that’s just in food.
“We’ve also done some refits in Semichem, extended private label ranges, invested in our distribution fleet and introduced hands-free handsets for the warehouse.
“We’ve diversified our property portfolio with the sale of a large property and reinvested the total proceeds into several other smaller investments that should give good growth for the future.
“We’ve opened a funeral home and refurbished a couple of others, and we’ve launched Community Connect in our north region and we’ll be rolling the trial further out into our west region.”
Looking to the year ahead, Brodie said Scotmid will keep pursuing its “continuous improvement philosophy” by improving the product offer, particularly driving food to go, as well as seeking out further improvements in productivity and cost-reducing measures.
