Co- op adds 75 jobs with new openings
● Investment forms part of an £ 11m 2017 store expansion plan
The Co-operative Group is pumping more than £3 million into the opening of five Scottish stores in a move that will create 75 jobs.
The latest £3.4 min vestment forms part of there tailer’s £11m 2017 store expansion plan and will see outlets opened in Cam bus bar ron, Card ross, Dou ne, Old meldrum and Renfrew over the next few weeks.
Local community groups are also set to get a funding boost through the Co-op’ s new membership scheme. Members receive a 5 per cent reward on purchases of own-branded products and services, with a further 1 per cent going directly to local causes in the community.
Charities and groups set to benefit from the launch of the new stores include I Am Me Scotland, Lisa’s Gift and Barrhead’s Men’s Shed.
John Mcneill, the society’ s divisional managing director, said :“It’s a very exciting time for the Co- op in Scotland as we gear up to open not one, but five, brand new Co - ops over the next five weeks.
“As well as being hubs for the local community, our stores are committed to providing a consistently brilliant in- store experience.”
He added: “We’re very proud of how much we’ve achieved so far in 2017 and our membership message really seems to be striking a chord with shoppers. We now have over half a million members who together have helped us to raise £ 1.2m for almost 600 Scottish good causes.
“Our new store launches, together with our ever growing range of locally-sourced Scottish produce and increasing member numbers, put us in a strong position as we look towards further expansion in 2018.”
The openings follow the recent announcement that the retailer will be launching a new 12,000 square foot distribution centre at Inverness Airport Business Park next year.
The Co- operative Group last month revealed that it had formally drawn a line under 145 years of history by selling its final 1 per cent stake in the troubled Co- op Bank.
The food-to-funeral s business said it had sold the holding for about £5m, a sit also posted a near-halving of underlying interim pre-tax profits to £14m for the six months to 1 July.
That compared with a profit of £27 min the same period last year. Co- operative chief executive Steve Murrells said the sale of the mutually-owned group’s residual stake in the Co- op Bank made sense.
“At 1 per cent, we would have had no influence in that business, and in selling to an existing shareholder, it now gives us the opportunity to focus on our core business. That felt the right and logical thing to do, ” he said.
The Co- op Bank was formed in 1872 as the Loan and Deposit Department of the Co-operative Wholesale Society, becoming the CWS Bank four years later.
The group posted its 14 th consecutive quarter of rising sales in its supermarkets, with like- for- like growth of 3.5 per cent. Its convenience stores saw same-floor space sales rise 4.5 p er cent. The Co - op has about 6 per cent of the UK food retail market.
Underlying profits for the food business rose 3 per cent to £65m. ls said the group had “continued to perform in the face of challenging markets”.
“Our new store launches… put us in a strong position as we look towards further expansion in 2018.”
CO- OP’S JOHN MCNEILL