THE Midcounties Co-operative has defied the economic gloom and announced a 35 per cent increase in trading profit, to a record £16.2 million.

The community retailer’s year end results for 2008/09 were achieved despite tough conditions and were driven, to a large extent, by a 7.2 per cent increase in food sales.

Chief executive, Ben Reid, hailed the success as showing the co-operative model of doing business worked, while other systems that “rewarded personal greed”, were now seen as flawed.

He said: “More and more consumers are recognising the underlying values of the Co-operative movement. We aspire to trade profitably and ethically, to support our local communities and overseas Fairtrade suppliers and return a share of our profits to our members.

“This is very attractive to many people who have experienced, first-hand, what damage a system can do that rewards personal greed at the expense of the common good.”

The latest figures reveal:

  • Trading profit up 35 per cent, to £16.2 million (£11.9 million 2007/8)
  • Gross sales up 5.1 per cent to £748 million (£712 million 2007/8)
  • Total assets £370 million (£355 million 2007/8)
  • Payments to and on behalf of members £3.5 million (£2.5 million 2007/08)

Midcounties also recruited more than 50,000 new members - more than twice as many as the year before. A retail co-operative is different from other retailers because it is owned by its customers, who control and benefit from it.

Midcounties, which trades in food retail, travel, funeral, pharmacy, childcare and motors, is the second largest independent co-operative society in the UK.

Mr Reid said its solid trading results in tough times were due to its co-operative approach, a focus on delivering a high quality retail environment that supported the needs of local communities and to the hard work and commitment shown by colleagues across its businesses.

“No-one is in any doubt that the next year is going to present us all with real challenges,” hea dded, “The Midcounties Co-operative is in good shape to be able to face these challenges head on.”

During the year, Midcounties returned more than £158,000 of its profits to community projects and employees gave more than 22,300 volunteering hours to provide practical help in their community.

The society put a greater emphasis on its green agenda in 2008, with a series of initiatives, including the appointment of a new energy and environment officer, to cut waste, promote recycling and save energy.

It helped Midcounties to lower its CO2 emissions from 6.2 tonnes to 2.9 tonnes CO2 per £1 million turnover.

The Midcounties Co-operative is based in Oxford and Walsall, with trading outlets stretching to Worcestershire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and surrounding counties.

Trading groups are food retail, funeral, travel, pharmacy, Motorworld, Co-operative IT and Imagine co-operative childcare.

The society is the second largest independent co-operative society in the UK. The Midcounties Co-operative is a £700 million business, with more than 550 branches, 7,000 employees and 300,000 members.