Federated Co-operatives

Federated Co-operatives Limited

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Type	Cooperative federation
Industry	Distribution Petroleum Lumber
Founded	1955
Headquarters	Saskatoon, Saskatchewan
Key people	Scott Banda, CEO
Revenue	$10.8 billion (2014)
Net income	655.4 million (2014)
Number of employees	23,000
Website	Co-op Connection Home Page

Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL), is a co-operative federation, established in 1955, providing procurement and distribution to member co-operatives in Western Canada. Federated Co-operatives is owned by about 365 member co-operatives across the region. Some are large co-operatives, such as Saskatoon Co-op and Calgary Co-op, while others are small co-ops based in small towns, such as Abernethy Co-op.

In 2009, FCL was ranked as the largest co-operative in Canada by total sales. In 2010, FCL was the second largest company by annual sales in Saskatchewan. During that year, it earned revenues of 498 million and returned $355.7 million to its member retailers. In 2008 Federated Co-operatives saw sales increase and posted its 37th record year in a row for both sales and profits.

History

FCL purchased Downie Street Sawmills of Revelstoke, British Columbia in 1969. The forest products operation replaced a Smith, Alberta, business FCL sold in 1977.

In March 2010, Federated Co-operatives announced an agreement with SeaChoice, a program of Sustainable Seafood Canada devoted to sustainable seafood. Through collaboration, the organizations seek to develop a long term sustainability strategy for seafood sales and procurement in the co-operatives' member businesses.

Federated Co-operatives was awarded the SABEX Environmental & Sustainabiltiy award from the Greater Saskatoon Chamber of Commerce in May 2010.

In November 2012, FCL sold its Forest Products Division operations in Canoe, British Columbia to Gorman Bros. Lumber. In August 2013, FCL acquired 17 agri-business locations across Saskatchewan, Alberta, and one in Manitoba, from Viterra, which was in the process of selling its Canadian agriculture business to Agrium. All the stores were, in turn, sold to local FCL-affiliated co-operatives except two which FCL retained and later closed. In February 2014, Federated Co-operatives acquired 14 grocery store locations—primarily former Safeway stores, from Sobeys; the Competition Bureau required the company to sell at least 23 of its stores in the wake of its 2013 acquisition of Safeway. These stores were given to local FCL-affiliated co-operatives and re-branded as Co-op food stores in May 2014.

Services

Key services fall into the following categories:

• product distribution from warehouse facilities in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, and Winnipeg.
• six animal feed plants in Western Canada (Ag Business)
• twenty propane distribution centers
• lumber operations (based out of Canoe, British Columbia) - SOLD
• Co-op Refinery Complex (Oil refinery based in Regina, Saskatchewan)
• The Grocery People Ltd. (A fresh produce and grocery distributor based in Edmonton, Alberta)

Store brands

Federated Co-operatives markets several store brands at its affiliated retailers, including Co-op Gold, Market Town, Centsibles (discount-oriented), and Care+ (pharmacy).

External links

• Official site

Further reading

• Fairbairn, Brett. (1989) Building a dream : the co-operative retailing system in western Canada, 1928-1988. Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Western Producer Prairie Books.