Things are looking up for United Co-operatives. T&A Reporter Mark Casci spoke to the Bradford-born-and-bred chief executive, Peter Marks, on how the Co-op is holding its own and on his hopes for the future of the city.

Reading through a list of the fields in which United Co-operatives runs businesses is like reading through a list of the UK's most competitive industries.

The group owns supermarkets, car dealerships, funeral directors, travel agents and health care businesses all of which exist in some of the tightest markets in British commerce.

But the business has increased turnover in every single area something Peter Marks puts down to a traditional formula of hard work and good business sense.

The company as a whole turned over £2.1 billion last financial year, with a profit of more than £41 million. The group has made a profit every year since Bradford-based Yorkshire Co-ops merged with North-West Co-ops.

Although the merger has taken Mr Marks away from his offices at the top of Bradford's former Sunwin House, he continues to live in Bingley, making his daily trip to work along the M62 to the group's new base in Rochdale.

Despite working the wrong' side of the Pennines, his love and commitment to the prosperity of this area is stronger than ever and he still finds time to sit on the board of Bradford Regeneration Company the body behind the city's rebirth.

He said: "I am a Bradford lad born and bred and I desperately want to see Bradford succeed. For years it has been quite a depressing place, especially when you look round the city centre.

"However, of late, it has been much more encouraging as we are starting to see cranes and building projects.

"I am an optimist by nature and I think that, given ten to 15 years, we really will be looking at Bradford back to its old self."

The city of Mr Marks's birth in many ways mirrors the company he heads.

Both are dynamic, with lots of fingers in diverse business pies. And, like Bradford, United Co-operatives is faced with fierce competition from larger and better- known names.

Yet during his tenure the firm has gone from strength to strength, as manifested in his recent announcement of £200 million worth of investment back into the business over the remainder of the current trading year.

Last year the firm made an 11.4 per cent return on its internal investments.

"All our businesses continue to improve and our customer offers are always of great quality. But we should never become complacent," he said. "We have to keep investing in our premises so that they are as good as, if not better than, our competitors'.

"Clearly, we are doing something right and our investments last year paid off an 11.4 per cent return, which is extremely good."

The huge amounts of investment are already being felt in the Bradford area. A new supermarket opened in Clayton last week and a newly refurbished £3.5 million Baildon store re-opens at the end of the month.

In other fields, United will be investing in its existing Land Rover dealership in Guiseley and plans to open a new Mazda dealership next door later in the year. The Renault and Nissan dealerships in Keighley are due to be refurbished this year.

Money will be spent sprucing up the Sunwin House travel shop. And Mr Marks is also in talks with regeneration bosses in Bingley to significantly modernise the Co-op store there.

As the big four supermarkets continue to battle over control of the food and convenience industries and with the recent merger talk of convenience chains Nisa and Costcutters, is Mr Marks concerned about the company's future in this sector?

"The competition is so tough in these markets that consolidation is going through at all levels," he said.

"Clearly, small businesses in the food and convenience markets realise they cannot continue to survive unless they are part of the bigger picture. The deal with Nisa and Costcutter is just another example of that.

"We are confident about our abilities. Our convenience sector is the biggest in the whole of the north of England, so do I worry about it? Not at all."

The figures certainly bear out Mr Marks's confidence. The convenience sector turned over more than £900 million last year. So with Morrisons and the other big stores to be dragged before the Competition Commission over the effect they are having on the convenience sector, is he anticipating a further growth in the area?

"Clearly I welcome the Office of Fair Trading's findings," he said. "However, we will concentrate on our own business and customers. A business cannot rely on or hide behind Government legislation. We welcome it but do not rely on it."

With so much happening in his home town, it is hard not to ask Mr Marks why he chose to leave Sunwin House and move across the Pennines to work every day. His answer is typically logical yet human: "It was sad to leave, no doubt. We were investing so much in our other sectors that we had to make the decision to leave our department store sector behind.

"Sometimes in business you have to make hard decisions and this was one of them."

While he may no longer look out of his office window from Sunwin House, Mr Marks and his company have far from abandoned the area. With millions of pounds being invested in the city under the name of United he has hardly gone away.

e-mail: mark.casci@bradford.newsquest.co.uk