Co-op agrees £350m lending deal with six banks

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Backing the Co-op: a new deal has been agreed

Co-op has today announced a £350 million lending agreement with six major banks: HSBC, Barclays, ING, Lloyds, NatWest and fellow co-operative, Rabobank.

The deal reflects market confidence in the group’s resilience and performance and follows a solid set of annual results, including a 35% increase in underlying operating profit, and return to profit before tax for the first time since 2020.

These achievements follow a renewed focus on member-ownership, with member numbers up by 22% to 6.2 million over the year.

Co-op’s credit rating was upgraded by Standard & Poor’s in late 2024. The group also successfully renewed and extended its backstop undrawn revolving credit facility by five years. 

Rachel Izzard, chief financial officer, said: “This funding arrangement is a powerful endorsement of strength – the renewed financial strength of our Co-op, the strength of our mutual model and the strength of the shared voice of our members.

Nioami Reddington, senior relationship director at NatWest, said: “The Co-op is a highly valued and long-standing client of NatWest, whose values are closely aligned to our own.  The Co-op continues to demonstrate strong trading results, a robust balance sheet, growing membership numbers and a resilient operating model.”   


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