The Peterborough Evening Telegraph
Retailer sees surge in sales and profits
Successful performance comes in face of tough trading conditions
A leading retailer in the Peterborough area has seen a hike in sales and profits.
The Central England Co-operative, which has dozens of stores and funeral homes across Peterborough, has reported a rise in sales to £848.3 million for the 12 months to the end of January 2018, while profits rose by £5.3 million to £16.6 million.
Chief Executive Martyn Cheatle said: “We achieved a robust performance in 2017 from a financial and non-financial perspective, underlining our strength as a modern, progressive, co-operative business.
“Trading conditions remained very challenging and highly competitive throughout the year in all our markets.
“Our encouraging trading performance demonstrated our resilience as a strong and successful independent cooperative business to compete in an intensely competitive environment.
“We remain confident in our strategy and our co-operative point of difference to deliver sustainable business growth and provide a relevant and attractive proposition for our members, customers and local communities.”
In Cambridgeshire over the same period, the society has opened new funeral homes, two new funeral booking offices and revamped two food stores - investing £876,000 and creating dozens of jobs.
The society also states its work for the community has delivered the installation of 300 defibrillators at food stores and funeral homes, 60,000 plus items being donated from a Christmas Foodbank Appeal and over £1.5 million raised for charity partners Newlife and Dementia UK.