Sales at community retailer Lincolnshire Co-op have broken £300m for the first time in the Society’s 155 year history, thanks to a strong performance.
In the 2015/16 financial year, Lincolnshire Co-op saw total sales rise by £9m to £301m and trading surplus go up by 4 per cent to £20m.
More than 260,000 members own Lincolnshire Co-op and receive a share of the profits in dividend. If the Society has performed well, they also get a dividend bonus each year.
This year’s positive trading result means members who go to the Society’s annual meetings in November will be asked to approve a dividend bonus of 85p per £1 of dividend collected during the year.
If given the go-ahead, members will share £1.6m in bonus on top of the £1.9m paid out during the year – a total of £3.5m. It’s an average return of 3.1 per cent to each member on the value of their shopping.
Food stores saw sales rise by 6.9 per cent. Local goods continued to prove popular – with Lincolnshire Co-op’s own bakers Gadsby’s, based in Southwell, increasing sales by 7 per cent and sales of the Love Local range, featuring local meat and goods from small producers, going up by 9 per cent.
In pharmacies, 5.5 million prescriptions were dispensed and income rose by 3.4 per cent.
One new initiative was the launch of the Community Health Pod (pictured above) - a five metre tall inflatable blue marquee which toured the area, staffed by a team offering free healthy living advice.
Travel branches grew sales with an increase of 4.6 per cent in 2015/16 and income from the Society’s funeral homes, florist and crematorium rose by 5.7 per cent.
Over the year, £18.8m was invested in developments, including opening eight new outlets (pictured below is Old Leake Food Store and Post Office).
Lincolnshire Co-op’s 2,900 colleagues benefit from a profit share scheme and this year were paid the equivalent of an extra week and a half’s wages.
The Community Champions scheme links dividend card holders to good causes near them. Every time a member shops, a donation goes to the current Community Champion. These donations are now combined with staff fundraising and the proceeds from the carrier bag levy.
This year 579 organisations shared in the £320,804 raised through the Community Champions scheme.
Volunteering projects are regularly organised by Lincolnshire Co-op and this year, resulted in a total of 10,043 hours being given to the community by both staff and members of the Society.
Chief Executive Lincolnshire Co-op Ursula Lidbetter said: “We’re a local business and we’ve had a fantastic year thanks to the support of our 260,000 members, who live, work and shop in this area.
“We’re successful and able to reach milestones such as £300m of sales or recruiting almost 25,000 new members because customers know we offer something different as a co-operative.
“People choose Lincolnshire Co-op because of our great people and range of services, but also because they know every penny spent with us makes a difference.
“Their support means we can tackle projects, both big and small, that have a positive impact on the community – from major investments like the Cornhill Quarter and Science and Innovation Park in Lincoln, to clearing up beaches on the Lincolnshire coast during volunteering days or giving free health checks through our roaming health pod.”
If you want to find out more about Lincolnshire Co-op's performance, explore this year's financial reports.
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