The announcement arrives amid the economic uncertainty of the coronavirus pandemic and in Scotmid’s 160th anniversary year.

Scotmid’s results also revealed that the company had a strong balance sheet with assets of £105m. Scotmid’s trading turnover also increased by £7m to reach £385m.

The company’s positive results were driven by strong sales figures from Scotmid’s food convenience business. Scotmid has said this came at a time when food was faced with significant cost increases but delivered consistently strong like-for-like sales underpinned by range improvements and innovation.

John Brodie, chief executive of Scotmid Co-op, said: “This was achieved in a year dominated by Brexit uncertainty and without the benefit of the exceptional summer that boosted sales in 2018.

“The background market conditions for Semichem continued to be poor, particularly in Northern Ireland but actions taken helped to deliver an underlying result ahead of last year. Tight management of the cost base and rebasing of the supply chain were essential in the delivery of our year-end result.

“Scotmid’s funeral business finished the year strongly helping to recover the shortfall experienced in the first half of the year.

“Scotmid Property delivered good growth in rental income together with a positive asset valuation, reflecting the strength of the Edinburgh residential property market. These strong results were achieved despite notable uncertainties including the fluctuating Brexit position during 2019.”

Mr Brodie said: “Our co-operative and community development activity in the year was focussed on celebrating 160 years as a successful and thriving co-operative business. We invested record sums in our community grants and raised £325,000 for our charity of the year. We finished the celebration year with a world record-breaking Burns Supper.

“Last year I highlighted the cumulative burden of costs and the need to focus on innovation, effective investment and tight control of costs to continue to make progress. Once again the Society has delivered despite the Brexit saga and another challenging year for retailers generally.”

He added: “Scotmid can therefore reflect on a positive 160th anniversary year but be mindful of the ever-growing cost challenge and the uncertainty around global events, particularly the Covid-19 pandemic. In the short-term we must manage the significant issues arising from the virus outbreak, however, I am sure everyone in the Society will rise to the challenge.”