Co-op swings to profit despite losing £39m to shoplifters

The Co-operative Group swung back into profit in the first half of the year despite losing almost £40 million to shoplifting.
The mutual reported pre-tax profits of £58 million for the six months to June, reversing a loss of £33 million during the same period last year. It has a 6.1 per cent share of the UK grocery market and its interests also include funerals, insurance and legal services.
However, the Co-op said it had lost £39.5 million to shoplifting during the first half of the year, up 19 per cent from £33.3 million in the first six months of 2023.
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The group said the level of retail crime incidents had climbed by 4 per cent in the first half compared with the same period last year. It recorded 172,008 incidents of shoplifting and antisocial behaviour at its food shops during the first six months of the year, which is equivalent to 950 crimes a day in its stores.
“The reality at the Co-op is that four of our colleagues will be attacked each day and a further 115 will be seriously abused,” Matt Hood, the managing director of food operations, said. “The monetary cost is small compared to the physical and mental wellbeing of my colleagues who face this issue every single day.”
The group has previously said that the rise in retail crime was being driven largely by repeat prolific offenders. The Co-op said it had spent £18 million so far this year on protecting staff at convenience stores with fortified kiosks and body cameras.
As part of the company’s efforts to tackle shoplifting, it began testing the use of artificial intelligence to detect concealed weapons and attacks on staff in 14 of its stores. The group, which has its headquarters in Manchester, will spend £27 million this year on covert and non-covert guarding.
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The Co-op has been one of the leading campaigners in tackling the rise in shoplifting amid the cost of living crisis. It said that the government’s retail crime plan was “positive” and the sooner it becomes law the better.
Revenues at the Co-op rose slightly to £5.6 billion during the first half of the year, up 1.5 per cent from the first half of 2023. The group also announced plans to open 120 new stores by the end of 2025.
The number of active member owners rose by 20 per cent to 5.5 million, from 4.6 million during the same period last year. The Co-op said it remained on track to achieve its target of eight million active member-owners by the end of the decade.
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The Co-op employs almost 60,000 people and is one of the world’s largest consumer co-operatives. The group operates more than 2,300 food shops and more than 800 funeral homes and provides products to more than 5,000 other stores, including those run by independent co-operative societies and through Nisa Retail, its wholesale business.
“While we operate in sectors that continue to be challenging, we have outperformed the market in all of our three business units,” said Shirine Khoury-Haq, the chief executive.
Sales in the Co-op’s food division rose 3.2 per cent in the period to £3.7 billion, avoiding a wider weakness in the convenience market. Sales from its wholesale arm fell 2.9 per cent during the period to £698 million.
It reported a £39 million increase in its wage bill as it increased employee pay to match the 9.8 rise in the national living wage in April 2024.