Midlands Co-op Chief Executive John Fitzgerald is to retire later this year after a successful 25-year career in the Movement.

Two major independent retail societies — Midlands Co-op and Southern Society — have announced that they have decided to adopt the national ‘The Co-operative’ brand.

Midlands Co-op, the UK’s biggest independent society, has announced what Chief Executive John Fitzgerald has hailed as “an outstanding set of results” for the year ended January 26th. Boosted by recent mergers which brought both Ilkeston Co-op and Raunds Society under the Midlands banner, overall sales were up by almost 18 per cent to £800 million and the comparative trading profit of £15.1m was up 25 per cent on the previous year. In additio