The Co-op has reported a 25% year-on-year rise in underlying profits before tax for 2017 putting the increase down to improved business performance and further reductions in its cost base.
Last year the mutual company made £65m compared with £52m in 2016.
Revenues remained stable at £9.5bn as the Co-op invested in its convenience food estate, with like-for-like sales up 4.3%.
Sales of will writing and probate in the funeral and life planning business rose 16% and investment in its insurance business saw gross written premiums up 3% to £496m.
In 2017 the Co-op invested £160,000 in a new funeral home in Stowmarket, bringing the total number of funeral homes in Suffolk to nine, alongside the Co-op’s ten food stores in the county.
In addition, the Co-op’s local community scheme paid out over £75,000 to 46 community projects in Suffolk over the year.
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