Britain's Co-Operative Group, the mutually-owned supermarkets to funeral services group, today reported a 48% fall in underlying first-half profit.
The fall in profits reflected the cost of a new member reward scheme and a decline in insurance profit.
The UK's biggest mutual group, which also operates legal services, travel and electrical goods retailing businesses, made an underlying pretax profit of £14m in the 26 weeks to July 1.
This was down from £27m the same time last year.
Revenues were stable at £4.6 billion while debt was £680m.
The Co-op nearly collapsed in 2013 after a £1.5 billion funding "hole" was found in its banking operation.
It has since recovered, aided by the shift in Britons' grocery shopping habits towards more frequent trips to smaller convenience stores. The Co-op no longer has a stake in the bank.
The Co-op's strategy is to continue to invest in its businesses, while returning value to its members.
It launched a new membership scheme in September last year which rewards both members and local communities.
In the first half over half a million new members were recruited, taking active membership to 4.5 million across the UK.
Some £29m was invested in member rewards, with £6m given to 4,000 local causes.
