Best-ever performance from Swiss Coop
with its 11 co-op suppliers, Coop Suisse has reported a 7 per cent
increase in sales for 2002 and double digit profit growth, boosted
in particular by strong sales of organic and ethical food products.
Switzerland's Coop retail group posted its best ever financial results in 2002 - although the company as it is today was created only two years ago. Nonetheless, the company said it was delighted with the performance, which was the result of significant improvements in productivity.
Total group sales for the year rose 7.2 per cent to SF14.5 billion (€9.7bn), helped by the acquisition of the EPA chain during the year, while total retail sales rose by the same percentage to SF13.7 billion.
The rise in sales also led to an increase in Coop's retail market share, which is now 15.6 per cent (up from 14.6 per cent). In the food retail segment, the company has a 21.9 per cent share (up from 21.0 per cent in 2001), while its share of non-food retail sales increased by 1 percentage point to 10 per cent.
Like its compatriot Migros, which reported its results earlier this week, Coop registered a strong increase in sales of ecological, ethical and organic food products. The Coop Naturaplan range of products, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, posted sales in excess of SF1 billion during the year, and Coop now has a 50 per cent share of the organic food market in Switzerland, it claims.
But there was also a good performance from other Coop brands. The Betty Bossi range of chilled convenience food launched in June - and expanded on substantially since then - saw sales of nearly SF100 million.
In profit terms, Coop said its EBITDA grew by 10.8 per cent to SF1.18 billion during the year, more than offsetting the SF1.07 billion invested by the company during the year. EBIT was ahead 13.9 per cent to SF593 million, and net profits for the year reached SF331 million, up 9.6 per cent.
Coop operates 1,649 stores in Switzerland, and was created on 1 January 2001 after the merger of the Swiss Coop retail business with the 11 co-operative societies which had been its main suppliers for over 100 years.
