For the sixth consecutive year, Federated Co-operatives Ltd. has set a financial record.
In the fiscal year that ended Oct. 31, sales increased by 7.5 percent to a record $2.24 billion, while earnings jumped by 16 percent to a record $155.1 million.
FCL is the wholesale supplier of petroleum, food, merchandise, crop supplies and livestock feed to more than 300 member retail outlets in western and northern Canada.
Al Robinson, vice-president of corporate affairs, said in an interview sales were higher for all commodities traded by FCL, led by petroleum and food.
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He said there’s no single reason for the apparently endless growth.
Among the factors at work are low debt levels for FCL and for member co-ops, good planning in the early 1980s when the organization made structural changes in order to be able to prosper in tough economic times, and steady demand for major commodities like fuel and food.
The organization has also benefitted from the system of returning significant amounts of cash to members co-ops, which has allowed the local co-ops to better compete.
“The better the retails do, the more business we do, because that’s who we do business with,” said Robinson.
FCL will be returning $141.6 million to member co-ops in the form of cash or shares. About 80 percent ($114 million) be in cash, up from 77 percent last year and 75 percent the year before.
