Coop boosts turnover and market share

Coop has posted a big loss despite a better operating performance Keystone

Switzerland's second biggest retailer, the Coop Group, increased its turnover again last year and managed to carve out a bigger market share. But despite the good performance, extraordinary costs saw the company register a loss.

Group restructuring costs and losses incurred by the Coop Bank during the real estate crisis of the 1990s contributed to the SFr198 million ($116 million) losses.

The company’s turnover rose 4.3 per cent to SFr12.2 billion, a figure well above the industry average of two per cent. The market leader, Migros, saw its turnover increase 3.1 per cent to SFr13.4 billion.

Coop’s market share went up 0.3 per cent over the year to reach 14 per cent. It has a 20.4 per cent share of the grocery market and an 8.6 per cent share of non-food market.

At the end of 2000, the Coop Group had 1,610 outlets, 39 fewer than the year before. But the area covered by its shops increased by three per cent.

The company now employs 45,103 people, a rise of 1.5 per cent on the previous year.

swissinfo with agencies