Sales up 6.1%

Community retailer Lincolnshire Co-op has had a positive year of trading, with growth of 6.1% bringing the society’s turnover (sales excluding VAT) to £375.6m.

The financial year to 7^th September 2024 saw strong performances from food stores, with sales up 8.8%. The society’s bakery Gadsby’s also recorded strong sales, up by 6.4%. Post offices saw growth of 10.5% and travel branches sales grew by 9.7%.

Despite large prescription volumes, the pharmacy business saw turnover drop by 2.9%, with additional government clawbacks having an impact. The funeral business recorded a 0.8% decrease, following an industry-wide move towards more unattended funerals.

Significant increases in costs have affected the society’s trading surplus, bringing it down by 10.5%. High energy costs continue to impact, with a bill of £6.2m this financial year. Personnel costs have risen by £5.7m due to the impact of the National Living Wage. All society colleagues have received a pay rise of at least 3.75%.

Despite these factors, the surplus remained healthy at £10.8m and the society was able to share a profit share bonus with its team of almost 3,000 colleagues.

Lincolnshire Co-op members will also receive a bonus. On Friday 29^th November, each member will receive 50p per £1 of cashback they have collected during the year. It means the society will be sharing £960,000 in cashback bonus on top of the £2.3m of cashback they have already received this year.

Over 23,000 new members joined Lincolnshire Co-op over the year, bringing the total number of dividend card holders to 288,984 people.

Members shopping with their dividend cards, colleague fundraising and collection box donations contributed to a total of £616,981 being raised for 471 local charities and community groups through the society’s Community Champions scheme.

The society also continued its varied community support programme, including supporting 82 regular Wellbeing Walks and 23 regular Community Cuppa sessions, which help tackle social isolation. It also organised 18 green space clean ups and co-ordinated donations for food banks, hygiene banks and a festive toy appeal.

Plans for the future include an ambitious food store growth programme, with the aim of opening 30 new outlets over the next three years. Work is also ongoing on a new health hub model which aims to bring more services into pharmacy and create a ‘one stop shop’ for health and wellbeing. The first of these will open in Lincoln’s Birchwood Centre in 2025.

Lincolnshire Co-op’s Chief Executive Officer Alison Hands said: “Thanks to the combined efforts of our people from food, travel, pharmacy, funeral, post office, property and our Support Centre, we have exceeded our expectations by hitting challenging budgets despite external factors. My thanks go out to all my colleagues and our members and customers, who continue to support us.

“There is no doubt the retail environment is tough and will remain difficult over the coming year, especially in view of increasing costs. We are investing in growth programmes to help mitigate those, including a pipeline of new stores because our food business is a key driver for success. We also want to develop our healthcare services further as improvement in health and wellbeing outcomes is a key need in our area.”