This Is Jersey

By Dolores Cowburn

THE chief executive of the Co-operative Society has declared another record year for the organisation.
The Co-op announced this week a 22 per cent rise in profit on sales for last year, and Jim Hopley, who became chief executive after Allan Smith retired in January, said that the Co-op were still experiencing significant growth despite the introduction of GST and the potential impact of the global credit crunch.
The accounts for the 52 weeks to 13 January, issued to shareholders at the annual meeting on Tuesday, show a £9.4 million surplus before taxation, compared to £7.4 million for 2007. Turnover for the same period increased from £119m to £127m.
Mr Hopley said that the largest area of growth was food, but trade in other areas such as their Homemaker brand was much tougher.