In spite of an increased number of customers throughout all of its different retail brands, Coop Danmark finished off 2013 with a significant drop in operating profits.
EBIT at the Group for the 12 month fiscal period fell 197 million krone to 235 million krone.
According to CEO Peter Høgsted, the "rapid expansion of stores in 2013 when we opened about 50 new stores have been costly and resulted in a highly unsatisfactory result".
"A new management team is on track to reverse the trend," Høgsted assured. "And we already see the first positive signs."
Unfortunately for the Group, which operates Denmark's largest supermarket chain, sales didn't offer any silver lining. Total revenue at Coop Danmark fell from 44.8 billion krone to 44.4 billion in the 12 months.
As well as investments in new store openings and refurbishments, 2013 saw Coop Danmark pay a dividend of 613 million krone to all of its members.
Like many Co-operative groups across Europe, the banking arm of this retail Group showed up with losses for the year, while supermarket brands like SuperBrugsen and Irma posted solid earnings.
© 2014 - European Supermarket Magazine by Enda Dowling
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