London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Co-op warns over food supplies and inflation at it reveals 57% profit fall

Co-op warns over food supplies and inflation at it reveals 57% profit fall

Groups reports £100m profit for 2021 as it faced disruption to supply chain and higher wages
The Co-op Group has warned of continuing problems with food supplies and inflation after revealing that profits more than halved last year amid supply chain disruption and higher staff wages.

The mutual said underlying profit for 2021, stripping out a one-off £99m gain relating to the sale of the Co-operative Bank in 2017, was down 57% to £100m, compared with the year before, and that sales slipped to £11.2bn, from £11.5bn.

Sales at the group’s food business fell by 2% to £9.1bn despite investing £140m in opening 50 new stores and refitting 87 more, and spending £18m on cutting prices. While in-store sales declined, online sales soared from £70m the year before to £200m thanks in part to tie-ups with Deliveroo and Amazon.

Sales also slipped at the Co-op’s funerals business, declining by £8m to £264m.

Shirine Khoury-Haq, the incoming interim chief executive of the Co-op, said: “The last year has seen us facing some significant challenges, including significant supply chain issues in the second half coming at the same time as our food business transformation and increasing inflationary pressures.

“The difficult operating environment disproportionately impacted our food business, given its focus on the community convenience market, with an operating model that is more reliant on flexibility in the supply chain.”

She said the Co-op would be reexamining its current strategy of opening 50 to 100 stores a year as she suspected change would be required given the shift to online shopping and cost challenges.

Khoury-Haq said inflation and supply chain problems were not just being prompted by the war in Ukraine, which has driven up the price of energy and affected supplies of wheat and edible oils.

Even the price of coffins in the group’s funeral business have increased because of global shortages of wood and other resources partly as a result of the pandemic.

Problems with heavy rainfall and flooding in Spain, which supplies large amounts of fresh vegetables to the UK at this time of the year, have also hit supplies of broccoli, courgettes and other vegetables. Khoury-Haq, who replaces Steve Murrells in May, said the Co-op had been forced to source elsewhere or offer alternatives because of shortages.

She said some food price increases were “inevitable” this year, but the Co-op was trying to mitigate the problems for customers by not raising the price on 1,000 key items and adding 100 extra products to its budget range.

The Co-op said it was outperforming the grocery market. However, it expected its food business to “face continued challenges during the year” amid “inflationary pressures and the economic uncertainty facing customers”.

Allan Leighton, the chair of the Co-op, said: “The economic headwinds look stark and will be tricky to navigate but through our continued planned strategic investments our Co-op is well placed to ride out the storm and prosper beyond.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
After 200,000 Orders in 2 Minutes: Xiaomi Accelerates Marketing in Europe
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
×