The Co-operative Group announced on Friday that its annual underlying profit before tax remained flat at £43 million, noting the challenging “political and consumer backdrop.”

Its profits before tax from continuing operations increased by 27% to £93 million.

Group revenue was up 14% to £10.2 billion, supported by its acquisition of Nisa and the strong performance of its food sales.

Food like-for-like sales increased 4.4%, equating to five consecutive years of like-for-like revenue growth.

The company said that it has invested £75 million into opening over 100 new food stores as well as refitting 138 existing stores and creating 1,600 new jobs.

“Over the past year we have continued to successfully transform the Co-op, leading to a 14% increase in revenues to £10.2bn and the return of £60m directly to our members and £19m to over 4,000 community projects across the UK,” said Steve Murrells, Chief Executive of the Co-op.

“The acquisition and integration of the Nisa wholesale business has been a game changer in expanding our food footprint and we have also set out the path by which we can offer our members a broader range of compelling Co-op solutions in Insurance and Health,” he continued.

The Co-operative has said that it remains focused on long-term growth for the business as well as the positive role is plays in communities. It remains confident that it can continue to embark on commercial success and increase its social impact in spite of the uncertain political and consumer backdrop.

The group has side businesses that vary from insurance to funeral care. Last year, the Co-operative bank reported a nine-month loss before tax of £87 million.

As for 2019, recent data from Kantar shows that, elsewhere in food retail, Asda had overtaken Sainsbury’s (LON:SBRY) in main store sales.

Kantar’s figures show a year-on-year growth of 1.4% in supermarket sales for the 12 weeks to 24 March, the slowest market growth rate since March 2018.