Business Round-Up: Coop Bank and Cheshire-based Protein Works report increased profits

North West-based Cooperative Bank has announced pre-tax profits of £132 million for its last financial year.

The positive results by the Manchester headquartered group are a £100 million jump in profits from the year before. The bank had posted a profit of £31.1 million in 2021.

The group also reported that income had risen from £361.5m to £499.4m last year.

2022 was the second year in a row that the company had posted a profit after a decade of loss-making.

This news was greeted positively by Chief Executive Nick Slade, who said: "I am extremely proud of what we have achieved during our 150th year."

"The bank has not only delivered a significant improvement in profitability to £132.6m (FY 21: £31.1m), but has also achieved several notable milestones, such as the successful issuance of £250m of senior unsecured debt in March 2022, full compliance with its capital requirements including all buffers one year ahead of plan and the de-risking of the Pace defined benefit pension scheme

"Looking to the future, we are focussed on delivering both growth and attractive, sustainable returns for our shareholders. Our capital position gives us the scope for optimisation as well as continued investment in our group and returns of capital to shareholders.

"I would like to take the opportunity again to thank our colleagues and customers for their support" he added.

Protein Works posts profits for the fourth year in a row

Cheshire-based online health and fitness retailer Protein Works also reported profits for the fourth year in a row.

Protein Works is headquartered in Cheshire (Image- Unsplash)

The company, founded by former MyProtein director Mark Coxhead, which was bought out by another Cheshire-based company THG in 2011, announced a turnover of £29m which was up from £25.2m in 2021.

Profits were up to £2.1m from 1.5m in 2021.

Protein Works parent company TPW Global said: "The directors are satisfied with the results for the period and the year-end balance sheet position.

The company returned results in line with management's expectations."

AO World revises earnings outlook

AO World, which is based in the North West and employs 600 people at its key logistics facility in Crewe has revised its earnings outlook, increasing its projected earnings to be in the range of £37.5m to £45m for the full year, up from the £30m to £40m guided for last month.

AO World in Crewe (Image AO World)

The company has been embarking on a cost-cutting drive to ensure future sustainability and had revised its initial earning outlook upwards in November.

In a statement to the London Stock Exchange, AO said: "The steps we have taken to simplify the business and become more efficient have outperformed expectations and been delivered quicker than expected."

"Margin improvement initiatives coupled with a continued resilient underlying customer base has driven higher retail gross margins than previously expected and we anticipate that this will continue for the remaining five weeks of the financial year," it added.

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