Co-op Group loss widens to £45m after investment in food business
Co-op Group has posted a widened underlying operating loss in its first half after investing in new stores and discounts.
Its food business increased its revenue by 2.6% to £3.7 billion in the six months to 4 July, as it grew its share of the convenience market. It also delivered 24% sales growth in quick commerce, which has now been expanded to 90% of stores.
Subscribe to TRBDuring the half year, Co-op invested around 1% of margin in driving trade and footfall in food stores through deals, discounts and 135 essentials price matched to Aldi for members. Co-op said the move has paid off, with transactions returning to levels seen before its 2025 cyber attack.
It also opened 42 new stores, including new sites, refurbishments, franchise stores and “sustainability showcase” stores, as well as pop-ups at UK festivals such as Latitude and Download.
In addition, Co-op launched the Pop to Co-op campaign, which aims to highlight Co-op’s strength in convenience and top-up shopping missions.
Across the wider Co-op, which also includes insurance and funeralcare businesses, revenue increased by 2.4% to £5.6 billion, although its underlying operating loss widened to £45 million from £32 million a year earlier.
Kate Allum, Co-op interim chief executive, said: “2026 is looking like a year of two halves for our Co-op. The first half was characterised by difficult markets and low consumer confidence, especially for food retail.
“Against those conditions, we made decisions to drive trade – investing in promotions and investing in our stores – while also mitigating rising costs. These things have had a short-term impact on profitability.”
Looking ahead, Co-op said it expects to deliver a stronger second half, with progress across both sales and profitability metrics, despite ongoing economic uncertainty and price pressure.
Allum said: “Speaking now in the second half, we’re seeing bigger baskets and more transactions.
“Conditions remain challenging, but we see reasons for confidence across our portfolio, having delivered strong growth in areas such as online convenience shopping and funerals.
“We expect to see a stronger performance in the second half than the first, with sales growth and improvements in profitability.”
In March, Co-op announced that Shirine Khoury-Haq had decided to step down after four years as group chief executive. The news cames as the group reported that it had swung to a loss in the year to 3 January after the impact of the cyber attack.
