Independent retailer Tamworth Co-op has reported a £622,000 trading profit for the year to 25 January, down from a surplus of £948,000 the previous year.
Turnover was £28.7m, slightly down from £29m.
In their report, the directors said the society had been through a year of change, including the retirement of CEO Julian Coles after 12 years, with food chief Dan Welsh stepping up as his replacement.
They said the financial performance was impacted by “lower than expected sales in our trading divisions, increased operating expenses in areas such as National Living Wage, increased distribution costs and some one-off recruitment costs due to the change in senior leadership.
“The have also been some significant impairment costs of £425,000 due to a revaluation of our investment property portfolio.”
This was related to the redevelopment of its Grade II listed, 19th century 9 Colehill property, creating five residential apartments and two commercial units.
Food sales were hit by the wet summer, they add, but the society continues to offer online sales with Snappy Shopper and Just Eat and although these account for just 2% of total sales, “we do believe this will continue to grow in line with changing consumer habits”, the report adds.
The year was saw the change to deliveries from the Co-op Group Lidia network, the directors said. “The service to stores has been very good and we have noticed an overall improvement in our availability in-store, however our distribution costs have increased with the switch to this new provider.”
Trade in Tamworth Town Centre “continues to be a challenge”, they add, with lower footfall.
The society has also enhanced its Staff Safe system to improve colleague security.
Funeral trade was down, in line with falling mortality rates.
The society donated £10,000 worth of food for 500 food parcels to local schools for families in need, backed by staff volunteering time to assemble and deliver them, and gave £8,000 to the Heart of Tamworth Lunch Club for lonely and isolated people.
