Coop Alliance 3.0 consolidates the 2023-2027 strategic plan with results that already in the first year of the relaunch process show the positive effects of the refocusing on the core business: despite the worsening of the inflationary context which has reverberated on the costs and consumption of families, and the consequent pressure of competition in the sector, the Cooperative has in fact managed to show an effective response capacity which he allowed an improvement in performance of 137 million compared to the 2022 closing, bringing the 2023 budget into positive territory with a profit of 20 million euros.
Coop Alleanza 3.0 also recorded an increase in sales under the brand which, with a growth of 143 million compared to 2022, allowing us to close the year at 5,73 billion euros, and a Retail management results significantly improved (+41 million euros compared to 2022) characterized by Group retail gross sales up (+155 million euros, year on year) and Positive and strongly growing EBITDA (gross operating margin), both for the Cooperative (85 million euros) as well as for the consolidated (194 million euros).
In terms of assets, It also improves PFN (Net Financial Position), reaching approximately 1,8 billion euros.
The operating result is also growing: a further sign that the management policies launched have led the Cooperative towards the desired structural improvement, but also that those achieved so far are intermediate results, to be read in the context of a multi-year path that still has important stages ahead of it and requires constant rigor and vigilance.
"Approaching the ambitious recovery target and building an increasingly solid and supportive Cooperative is in progress- commented Mario Cifiello, President of Coop Alleanza 3.0. We reached a particularly significant milestone in 2023, one year ahead of expectations.
However, it is essential to consider this as a starting point, not a finishing point. We must remain focused on completing the commitment we have made to our members: guarantee the financial and equity soundness of the cooperative without ever abdicating the founding values that support it.
For this reason, all the strategic choices that we have implemented, as a Board of Directors representing the members and as a management team, go precisely in the direction of guaranteeing, on the one hand, streamlining and refocusing the organizational structure; on the other hand, the continuation of the cooperative mission of support the power of purchase of our members, balancing this objective with the utmost attention to the well-being of employees and the vitality of supply chains” – concluded Cifiello.
Milva Carletti, General Manager of Coop Alleanza 3.0, he added: "Last year, Coop Alleanza 3.0 launched a challenging and ambitious strategic plan, based on rigor, efficiency and – above all – a renewed commitment to the Cooperative's core business. 12 months after the introduction of these paradigms, the first positive effects are visible. It is important to keep in mind that the Cooperative still has a long path ahead of it, but today's results confirm that it is on the right path: the enhancement of the commercial offer, the evolution of the operating model and the centrality of the members in the development project are proving to be the cornerstones on which to relaunch the Cooperative and make it increasingly competitive as a company and effective in its social function. In this sense, it is worth highlighting another figure, which is also growing compared to 2022: in carrying out its most characteristic function, mutualistic exchange, last year the Cooperative produced economic benefits for its members for almost 165 million euros, with an increase of approximately 24 million (+16%) compared to the previous financial year."
Consolidated Group Result and other managements
In 2023, the consolidated result of the Group is, such as that of the Cooperative alone, increasing compared to the 2023 numbers: the year-on-year increase, in fact, amounts to 134 million euros, which allow the balance sheet result to be brought into positive territory by one million euros. In addition to the good results of retail management, the result of the management of subsidiaries is also significantly growing (+17,6 million) of euros compared to 2022), thanks to higher Unipol dividends, the contribution of a higher ALG (Alleanza Luce & Gas) result than both the previous financial year and the forecast and the general improvement of the other subsidiaries.
In this regard, an item worthy of specific mention is Fico: overall, over the years, Coop Alleanza 3.0 has invested approximately 13,5 million euros in the Fico project, reporting the progress of the operation annually in the budget.
At the time of the project's launch, the Cooperative had joined because its commitment to the valorisation of Italian agri-food supply chains found a perfect match with the aims, objectives and values of Fico, moreover in the city where Coop Alleanza 3.0 has its headquarters.
During 2023, in compliance with the Strategic Plan, which has as its cornerstone the refocusing on the Cooperative's core activities and the progressive elimination of non-income initiatives, it was decided to fully sell the shares and therefore the management of that company, in exchange for an increase in the shares held in the Parchi Agroalimentari Italiani (PAI) fund.
Financial and real estate management
With regard to the Financial Management, the 2023 balance sheet shows how the cooperative, in addition to having reduced its debt, was able to absorb the increase of 21 million in financial charges that the international macroeconomic situation, through the surge in interest rates, produced. Prudent and correct management of the securities portfolio allowed, in balance, a positive result of the Financial Management as a whole.
Real estate management has stabilized its results during the year, which generates net costs of 12 million, compared to a increase in the rate of occupancy of the properties that make up the non-core assets and some extraordinary transactions – such as the sale of a real estate portfolio through the securitization formula.
Social loan
2023 saw a greater concentration of the Cooperative in promoting, towards Members, the advantages and services of the Social Loan. The new initiatives introduced (cashback on spending made through the Membership Card, increasing returns as the size of the balances increases and new tied loan plans) have shown, and are showing, their positive effects. In particular, To date, over 5 thousand members have joined the proposals for restricted loans – characterized by yields of up to 36% gross per year and available exclusively to the Cooperative's membership base – with a total amount of almost 700 million euros.
Cost and valorization of personnel
In 2023, Coop Alleanza 3.0 incurred increasing costs for personnel, compared to the previous financial year, for almost 19 million euros more. The greater distribution of wealth to employees is connected to several reasons: first of all to the anticipation, already since last year, of part of the salary increase provided for by the National Collective Labor Agreement, which Coop Alleanza 3.0 – together with the cooperative world – signed in recent weeks.
2023 also saw the disbursement of 17 million euros of variable remuneration. A measure to support workers also fueled by good corporate performance which, together with the presence of Company Supplementary Contracts significantly improved compared to market conditions, fully responds to the growth logic of the Cooperative. A development logic that has among its guiding principles the optimization of costs and the reduction of inefficiencies, but also and above all the valorization of human resources.
