Scandinavian retail co-operative Coop Sweden has witnessed an increase in sales, making profit for the third year in a row. However profits dropped during 2017, following a rebranding of one third of its branches.
The co-op, which is a subsidiary of the Swedish Co-operative Union (Kooperativa Förbundet), runs 234 co-op stores across Sweden, which are owned by 3.4 million members in 31 consumer associations.
Net sales at Coop Sweden increased by 2% in 2017, to SEK 32.18bn (£2.88bn). Operating profit for the year fell from SEK 172m (£15.40m) in 2016 to SEK 35m (£3.13m). During the period, Coop Sweden continued to invest in its new stores format; 74 stores were revamped in 2017 at the cost of SEK 645m (£57.75m).
“It is gratifying that we delivered a profit for the third consecutive year,” said Magnus Johansson, chief executive of Coop Sweden. “The explanation for the reduced profit compared with 2016 is that last year began weak with a declining sales trend. However, the last tier of events was a clear trend break, where profit levels were in line with the previous year.”
He explained that the retailer’s main aim for 2018 would be to increase sales and break down negative trends.
“Already today, our best stores take market shares and in a slightly longer term, Coop will also take market share as a whole. My clear mission is that Coop will succeed in this turn as a result of getting more satisfied customers by becoming even better at delivering on our customer promise: affordable, sustainable, food pleasure while raising service levels both in physical stores and in online shopping at Coop.se.”
