Posting its results for the six months ending 5^th July 2025, Co-op said it had additionally experienced expected and significant cost headwinds, including Real Living Wage and National Insurance increases and new Extended Producer Responsibility charges.

Earlier this year, Co-op saw the security of its 20 million members’ personal data compromised, after ransomware group, Dragonforce reportedly told the BBC it had a sample of 10,000 customers’ data, including their membership card numbers, names, home addresses, emails and phone numbers.

Co-op said it experienced “sustained malicious attempts by hackers” to access their systems.

Acknowledging at the time that cyber criminals had been able to access “a limited amount of member data”. CEO of the Co-operative Group, Shirine Khoury-Haq said it had been “extremely distressing for our colleagues and members” and apologised for what had happened.

When Co-op was targeted by what it describes as a “sophisticated cyber attack”, they acted quickly and decisively to temporarily shut down a number of systems to contain the threat. The full cost of the attack on the Co-op could rise, as the company expects the impact of it to roll into the second half of the year.

‘AREAS TO FOCUS ON’

The retailer is focusing on building back stronger, with strategic plans accelerated in H2, including the launch of a new Group Commercial & Logistics Division and 30 new store openings on the horizon.

Speaking after the publication of the results, Shirine Khoury-Haq said that over the last three years, they’ve built a stronger and more resilient Co-op, better able to navigate the headwinds that all businesses are facing.

“When we experienced a significant cyber attack, that financial strength allowed us to respond as a member-owned organisation,” she said.

“I’m very proud of how we reacted: we kept trading, prioritised colleagues and vulnerable communities, and launched a partnership with The Hacking Games to tackle youth disenfranchisement – the root of many cyber threats.

“The cyber attack highlighted many of our strengths. But more importantly, it also highlighted areas we need to focus on – particularly in our Food business.

“We’ve already started on this journey, refining our member and customer proposition, making structural changes to our business, and setting our Co-op up for long-term success.”

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Batt, who joined Nisa in September 2022, left the company in December 2024 to pursue further opportunities outside the business.

In a social media post, Morrisons revealed their delight at Batt joining the business, bringing with him over 30 years’ experience in the food industry.

Having led at board level and across large-scale retail operations, most recently he sat on the board of the Association of Convenience Stores and the Federation of Wholesale Distributors.

Before that, he spent a decade at the Co-op Group as Divisional Managing Director, with accountability for over 1200 stores. He spent the first 20 years of his career at Sainsbury’s, where he held senior roles in operations, commercial and convenience.

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The action reflects Co-op Wholesale’s recognition of the economic pressures facing local businesses and underscores its long-term commitment to deliver value, stability, and partnership to its Northern Ireland customer base.

Katie Secretan, Managing Director of Co-op Wholesale said their Northern Ireland customers were a vital part of their retail portfolio.

“While we acknowledge that our service levels have not met expectations in recent months, this decision goes beyond financial relief, it’s a clear signal of our focus and enduring commitment to these retailers. We’re determined to rebuild trust and deliver the service our retailers deserve,” she said.

The removal of the levies is part of a broader strategy to enhance support for independent retailers and ensure they remain competitive and financially resilient in a challenging market. Co-op Wholesale will continue to monitor the economic landscape and work at pace to resolve product availability issues.

The levy position will be reviewed ahead of the start of 2026, in line with ongoing economic developments.

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The convenience retailer has partnered with Holland & Barrett to introduce a health and well-being range alongside emerging brands in 125 Co-op stores from 27^th August.

A spokesperson for Co-op confirmed to NR that none of their Northern Ireland stores were part of this roll-out.

With over 70% of the UK adult population taking some form of vitamin and mineral supplement, the move aims to meet the growing demand for preventative health and wellness products, offering shoppers convenient access to credible and leading brands.

New Co-op branded “Health and Wellness” dedicated bays will consist of 52 lines including vitamins and supplements, which focuses on gut health, family well-being and preventative health from Holland & Barrett, Symprove and Zooki.

Shoppers will also find more convenient pack sizes in the range designed as a “top up” of their favourite health brands whilst the new range will complement a Sports Nutrition range that launched into stores at the end of last year.

MAKING WELLNESS MORE ACCESSIBLE

Francesca Miller, Co-op Commercial Buying Manager said: “The proactive health and wellness market is continuing to grow at a significant rate, and we believe the convenience sector has a huge role to play in supporting our shoppers as more and more of them take positive steps to improve their health and wellness.

“We are the experts in convenience and Holland and Barrett are the experts in proactive health, so we’re excited to be able to partner with them for this new offer.”

Anthony Houghton, CEO UK & Ireland, Holland & Barrett added: “Holland & Barrett is committed to making health and wellness more accessible for everyone. This partnership with Co-op is an important step forward in that mission.

“By combining our product expertise with Co-op’s strong community presence, we’re creating a trusted and convenient route to better access to preventative health for everyone across the UK. Together, we can help more customers make small, positive changes that have a big impact on their long-term overall well-being.”

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Following the cyber attack on Marks & Spencer over Easter weekend, Co-op fell foul of attackers in the days afterwards and continues to experience significant disruption.

With Click & Collect services and online orders suspended, gaps soon started appearing in-store on shelves within some M&S stores while it was reported that it could take weeks before operations begin to return to normal.

The attack on the Co-op saw the security of its 20 million members’ personal data compromised, after ransomware group, Dragonforce reportedly told the BBC it had a sample of 10,000 customers’ data including their membership card numbers, names, home addresses, emails and phone numbers.

As of 5^th May, the Co-op said it was continuing to experience “sustained malicious attempts by hackers” to access their systems, adding it was a “complex and ongoing situation” they are investigating in conjunction with the National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) and the National Crime Agency (NCA).

In the wake of the incidents, the NCSC issued essential guidance for retailers and businesses, stressing the importance of resilience and best practice to minimise the chances of falling victim to these attacks.

“Criminal activity online – including, but not limited to, ransomware and data extortion – is rampant,” said the NCSC. “Attacks like this are becoming more and more common, and all organisations, of all sizes, need to be prepared.”

Encouraging organisations to ensure two-step verification is deployed comprehensively, the NCSC also advises paying specific attention to Domain Admin, Enterprise Admin, Cloud Admin accounts, and checking if access is legitimate.

In a statement, the CEO of the Co-operative Group, Shirine Khoury-Haq thanked its member-owners for the continued support and sought to alleviate their concerns.

“The criminals that are perpetuating these attacks are highly sophisticated and our colleagues are working tirelessly to do three things,” she said.

“One to protect and defend our Co-op; two to fully understand the extent of the impact caused by the attack; and three to provide much-needed information to the authorities that may help them with their investigations.”

Acknowledging that the cyber criminals were able to access a “limited amount of member data”, Shirine Khoury-Haq added it was “obviously extremely distressing for our colleagues and members” and said she was “very sorry this happened”.

“We recognise the importance of data protection and take our obligations to you and our regulators seriously, particularly as a member-owned organisation.

“I appreciate you will want to know more, and I hope you will understand in order to protect our Co-op, we are limited as to the detail we can communicate at this time. I thank you for your patience and I will be back in touch as soon as possible.”

Meanwhile, customers have been reporting that some stores were informing customers they were “cash only” as card machines were offline, while others took to social media to highlight empty shelves in their local stores.

Co-op replied to some of these comments online apologising for stock issues and thanked customers for their support.

“Your store may be experiencing some product availability issues, please bear with us while we work hard on fixing some technical problems we are experiencing,” they said.

“We are continuing to serve our members and customers to the best of our ability and we are sorry if this means you might not be able to buy some of your usual products from us,” they added.

In a statement, NCSC CEO Dr Richard Horne said the disruption caused by the recent incidents impacting the retail sector were “naturally a cause for concern” to those businesses as well as consumers and the general public.

“The NCSC continues to work closely with organisations that have reported incidents to us to fully understand the nature of these attacks and to provide expert advice to the wider sector based on the threat picture,” said Dr Horne.

“These incidents should act as a wake-up call to all organisations. I urge leaders to follow the advice on the NCSC website to ensure they have appropriate measures in place to help prevent attacks and respond and recover effectively.”

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