The Week Unzipped: Shoppers Boost Co-Op Profits

CO-OPERATIVE customers should enjoy a healthy dividend this year after it reported a 60 per cent rise in profits to GBP 197m in the first half of 2008.

The biggest rise in turnover was in its supermarket chain, which saw profits increase by 44 per cent, and follows last year's merger of the Co-operative Group and United Co-operatives. The company said it had put a "significant" amount of the GBP 60m cost-savings acquired from the merger into lowering prices for shoppers.

The mutually owned company is currently in the process of buying the Somerfield supermarket chain. However, Peter Marks, the Co-op's chief executive, admitted they anticipate tricky times ahead as the credit crunch, the ongoing slowdown in the housing market, food price inflation and energy cost rises weigh on all businesses.

New ICAS account

DUNFERMLINE Building Society has formed a new partnership with the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland and will this week launch a new savings account for ICAS members.

The CA Savings Account, available to all 17,000 ICAS members and their immediate families, will pay 4.75 per cent with a guarantee that the rate will never be lower than 1 per cent below the Bank base rate.

Dunfermline has said it will also pay a 0.25 per cent return on total annual average savings balances to the Scottish Chartered Accountants' Benevolent Association.

Fake pound coins

ONE in every 50 pound coins in circulation today is counterfeit, according to the Royal Mint.

The number of fake GBP 1 coins in the UK has doubled over the past five years to more than 30 million.

Counterfeit coins can usually be identified by their quality. Key signs of a fake include a poorly defined ribbed edge, the wrong typeface and an indistinct design or bust of the Queen. Counterfeit coins can also be slightly different in colour.

The best way to check whether a coin is fake or not is to try it in a vending machine, as they will often reject counterfeit coins.

People who think they have a fake pound coin should hand it in to the Mint.

Male drivers hit

NEWLY qualified male drivers can expect to pay twice as much on their first year's insurance as their female counterparts, according to AA Insurance.

While premiums for young male drivers have risen steeply over recent years, women's insurance has been getting cheaper. A 17-year- old man will pay GBP 3,462 for his first year's car insurance while a woman the same age pays just GBP 1,810.

Although there is a falling trend in the number of people killed or seriously injured on British roads, the overall share of accidents among under 21-year-olds in increasing.

(c) 2008 Scotland on Sunday. Provided by ProQuest LLC. All rights Reserved.

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