United Co-operatives has confirmed it will continue to grow its c-store estate after announcing turnover for the first half of its financial year had surpassed the £1bn mark for the first time.

During the 26 weeks ending July 23, turnover for the company grew to £1.02bn, an increase of 12.6% on the same period last year.

The Society, which trades through 436 c-stores across the North Midlands and the North, pinpointed its food and health care groups as driving the strong performance figures, with its c-stores showing a 3.4% underlying like-for-like increase in turnover.

The Food Group as a whole increased turnover by £50m to £436.9m - a 13% increase on the previous year.

United Co-operatives chief executive Peter Marks commented: “Yet again, United is reporting on a superb set of figures and major progress in key areas of the business. We are growing organically and by acquisition and both will continue.”