The boss of a Lichfield retailer says the impact of Brexit and the Covid pandemic on product availability had hit sales during the past 12 months.
The comments come after Central England Co-op’s annual report revealed that gross sales had risen from £869million to £875million.
Operating profit, meanwhile, rose by £2.1million to £23.3million.
Chief executive Debbie Robinson said demand had been high during the first half of the year.
But she said Brexit and other factors had created a challenging second half of the financial year.
“It’s been another year of significant change – our purpose of creating a sustainable society for all, has been invaluable in guiding our decisions through this challenging period.
“During the first half of 2021, we saw lockdown conditions continue albeit with a cautious relaxing of restrictions at various points. Our goods and services remained in high demand.
“In the second half of the year, as restrictions were eased and more businesses started to reopen, the demand for our goods and services declined.
“Brexit combined with the pandemic resulted in significant challenges with product availability, which impacted heavily upon sales in our food business.
“While the situation is improving and mitigations have been put in place, we expect the trading environment to continue to be challenging into the new financial year.”
Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op
The chief executive said other factors would also have an impact on food retailers going forward.
“Looking ahead there are significant challenges facing the convenience sector, including new rules governing the way we market items to customers that are high in fat, sugar and salt from October 2022 as part of the Government’s strategy to tackle obesity.
“Inflation has reached a 30-year high, which will impact on our cost base and households will face considerable increases in the cost of living.
“Therefore we expect to see a significant threat to both household spending and business profitability.”
Debbie Robinson, Central England Co-op