Somerfield's decision to retain its Kwik Save stores and operate two separate fascias has been vindicated by the results announced this week, according to chief executive Alan Smith. He said: "Some suppliers had doubts about Kwik Save, but had it gone it would have changed the scale of the company completely and would have ruined it." The group achieved an operating profit in the second half of the year, said Smith, and although it was cancelled out by a loss in the first half, the operating loss for the year to April 28 was £6.3m compared to £79.5m last year. Smith also revealed that since the year end like for like sales had begun to increase for the first time in three years. For the eight weeks to June 23, Somerfield sales were up 6.2% and Kwik Save's were up 3.8%, giving a combined group total of 5.2%. Turnover was down 16% from £5.46bn to £4.61bn, with part of the decline accounted for by the sale of 46 large Somerfield stores which had contributed £490m in sales last year. Pre-tax losses improved slightly from £14.5m to £13.1m. Smith said management had restored financial stability at the company, but it would still take three to four years to achieve a full recovery. {{NEWS }}

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