Supermarket wars: Growth at Co-op Food for first time in a year, as Tesco and Asda decline yet again July 28, 2015 The Co-Operative supermarket is back in growth for the first time in a year, as Sainsbury's reclaims its second place position in the sector. The sector experienced slight growth for the 12 weeks to 19 July, with sales up 0.8 per cent year on year – though this was generally experienced by the smaller [...]
The Co-operative Group gets upgrade from S&P: The Co-op is moving up in the (credit ratings) world July 23, 2015 Good news (at last) for the troubled Co-op Group. Ratings agency Standard & Poor's has upgraded its credit one notch to BB, saying the outlook for the business “is stable”. This pat on the back comes after the business returned to profit in April, turning around the situation a year earlier when it made [...]
Supermarket wars: The Co-op Food is going on a hiring spree July 22, 2015 The Co-op is clearly feeling bullish about growth opportunities for its supermarket. Fresh from investing £125m to back its entry in the grocery price war, Co-operative Food has just announced plans to go on a hiring spree. The supermarket has committed to hiring a further 1,000 frontline staff to work in its convenience stores. [...]
The Co-operative likes its customers so much it charged them twice for petrol and supermarket groceries July 9, 2015 The Co-operative's supermarket arm said today it has refunded customers after a processing error means customers who bought groceries or used a filling station using a credit or debit card were charged twice. In a statement today, the company admitted the error, which affects customers who shopped at its stores on 7 July, but said [...]
Co-operative appoints two new non-exec directors in governance shake-up June 26, 2015 The Co-operative Group has appointed two new non-executive directors to its board, following changes made last year to the company's governance nominations. Read more: Co-operative Group returns to profit amid turnaround plan Stevie Spring is joining the group from ITG Group and Children in Need, while Peter Plumb is coming from Moneysupermarket.com. In [...]
Co-operative Bank warns on regulatory action from FRC and PRA June 23, 2015 The Co-operative Bank warned today that UK regulators are likely to "make findings against" following an 18-month investigation. Read more: Co-op Bank says it is on track to meet Bank of England targets The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) have indicated they are likely to "commence formal settlement discussions" in [...]
MRSA superbug found in pork sold by Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Asda and Co-operative June 18, 2015 Pork sold by four major UK supermarkets has tested positive for MRSA CC398 – a variant of the superbug, which can cause skin disorders and serious infections in humans. Products from Sainsbury's, Tesco, the Co-operative and Asda all tested positive for the bacteria during an investigation carried out by The Guardian. Read more: Sainsbury's, [...]
Co-operative Group to spend £125m slashing the price of fruit and veg in its supermarkets – including introducing the 39p cucumber June 17, 2015 The Co-operative has just drawn its battle line in the supermarket price wars, after it announced plans to spend £125m slashing prices. Read more: Aldi Shmaldi – How Bargain Booze is playing German discounter at its own game Its weapon of choice? The humble cucumber, the price of which will be slashed to just 39p, [...]
Co-op Bank says it is on track to meet Bank of England targets May 20, 2015 The Co-operative Bank said in a first-quarter trading statement yesterday that its turnaround plan is on track. The bank is undergoing changes to de-risk its balance sheet and meet revised deleveraging targets as set by regulators after the Bank of England stress tests last year. The bank completed a £1.5bn residential mortgage securitisation earlier this [...]
Co-op returns to winning ways after dark days April 9, 2015 THE Co-operative Group yesterday announced a return to profit – a reversal of fortunes on the previous year’s losses of £255m. The supermarkets-to-funerals operator that almost collapsed in 2013 reported pre-tax profit of £124m for the year to 3 January, against a loss of £255m a year earlier, on revenue of £9.4bn, helped by disposals. [...]