Scotmid Co-operative said it made a £2 million trading profit for the 26 weeks ended July 29, in-line with the equivalent period last year, with turnover slightly down on last year at £182 million.

Scotmid Co-operative CEO John Brodie said: “Scotmid delivered another solid half-year performance against the background of continued uncertainty and cost pressures …

“The result was achieved in a period when the Society had to absorb significant additional costs including the Scottish rating revaluation, apprenticeship levy, increased costs of imported goods and the ongoing impact of the National Living Wage.

“The Society’s food convenience business performed well with like-for-like turnover growth driven by the continued roll-out of food to go and efficiency enhancements from our ‘make it simple’ programme.

“Our Semichem stores delivered a sales performance ahead of the non-food market in Scotland, but was impacted by supplier price increases.

“Scotmid Property had a very successful six months and made significant progress with the diversification of our investment portfolio.

“The Society’s surplus before tax at the half-year was £1.4 million, £1 million up on 2016 and this improvement was largely due to the profit crystallised from the sale of a central Edinburgh investment property …

“I expect the second half of 2017 to be equally or even more challenging with increased cost growth from external factors and the continued market uncertainty over the Brexit outcome.

“Consequently we will continue to focus on innovation and our ‘make it simple’ programme in order to overcome these challenges and invest for long-term sustainable growth.”