John Lewis overtakes Co-op as biggest worker-owned business

Department store giant John Lewis is the UK's biggest worker-owned business, a report has said.

According to trade organisation Co-operatives UK, the group, which has 93,000 members, saw its annual sales hit £10.9bn in March, higher than the £10.8bn reported by the Co-operative Group, which has 8.4m members.

The report showed the whole of the worker-owned business sector reported a 2.8% decline year-on-year in sales to £37bn, largely as a result of the crisis at the Co-op, which was forced to reduce its stake in the Co-op Bank to just 20% in the wake of emergency recapitalisation.

As a result of the bank's problems, which included a £1.5bn gap in its balance sheet, the Co-op posted a £2.5bn loss this year.

However, figures showed the co-operative sector remained resilient, with the number of members in the movement increasing by 1.3% to 14.9m this year, while the number of independent co-operatives grew 0.5% to 6,796 businesses.

"The Co-operative Group is coming out of a challenging period into one of renewal, and this of course has had an impact on the sector," said Ed Mayo, secretary-general of Co-operatives UK.

"Yet innovation and growth amongst co-operatives large and small, in everything from solar power to social care, have meant that the co-operative sector is growing and in good health."