La Coop Fédérée Firmly on Its Growth Trajectory

On the occasion of its 96th Annual General Meeting, La Coop fédérée reports that for its fiscal year ending October 28, 2017, its consolidated revenues once again exceeded the six billion dollar mark reaching $6.3 billion, coupled with unequaled earnings before patronage refunds and income taxes of $351 million and operating earnings of $319 million. On a comparative basis, for the fiscal year ended October 29, 2016, consolidated revenues also reached the $6.3 billion mark, while earnings before patronage refunds and income taxes reached $275 million and operating earnings reached $256 million. 

 

Given these excellent results, La Coop fédérée declares patronage refunds of $88 million in 2017, representing $33 million or 60% more than the level declared in 2016. Additionnally, the Board of Directors of La Coop fédérée declares a $15.8 million dividend to the cooperative members of its pork operations in which compares to a dividend of $10.8 million declared a year earlier. 

 

 

"This year again, our agriculural cooperative demonstrates without any doubt its role of pillar of the Quebec and Canadian economies. For the sixth consecutive year, we are reporting very solid results which actually rank amongst the best of our 95 years of existence with respect to many key indicators " declared Mr. Ghislain Gervais, President of La Coop fédérée. 

 

"We are very pleased of our financial performance for the 2017 fiscal year as the agility of each of our three divisions strongly contributed to our organization's success. Despite the fact that many individual factors explain our strong overall results, I wish pointing out the excellent performance of Olymel, the Canadian leader in pork and poultry processing which figured out how to get the most out of the investments and partnerships made over the course of the last few years." , indicated Mr. Gaétan Desroches, Chief Executive Officer of La Coop fédérée. 

 

The other divisions of La Coop fédérée did not however stand idle as the Agri-business division brilliantly continued implementing its strategic plan and that the BMR division kept on improving its financial and operational results. "Once again, La Coop fédérée played its cards extremely well as it fulfilled its role of a Canadian leader whose strengths lie within every component of the food chain.", he added.

 

 

The cooperative model remains a credible option which is more relevant than ever and La Coop fédérée's successes demonstrate that it is perfectly adapted to adress the realities of an agricultural world that is constantly evolving while simultaneously creating wealth. "For nearly 100 years, La Coop fédérée and its network of affiliated cooperatives have known how to adjust and remain relevant. It is this capacity to adapt, along with a willingness to pick-up new challenges jointly and collectively which are characteristic of the Quebec agricultural scene and its underlying cooperative movement." , concluded Mr. Desroches. 

 

 

La Coop fédérée intends to fully take advantage of its diversified portfolio of activities in the best interest of its members. As a backdrop, the wave of consolidation hitting the agricultural industry for the last few years, La Coop fédérée intends to continue implementing its five-year plan. La Coop fédérée will pursue the development of its agricultural and agri-food businesses in Canada with an increased level of integration in the fields of agri-business and meat processing while stepping up the development of retail sales in Eastern Canada. 

 

La Coop fédérée continues to be involved in a consolidation process so it can, over the long term, preserve its role of leader in Quebec and Canada while gaining more business agility and generate recurring savings. 

 

La Coop fédérée will continue having important discussions surrounding the renegotiation of the North-American (NAFTA), so it can amongst others; insure the safeguard of the supply management system given La Coop fédérée's main message is that agriculture must not be used as a bargaining chip in these negotiations.

 

 

Founded in 1922, La Coop fédérée is the largest agri-food enterprise in Quebec and it is the 24th largest agri-food cooperative in the world. It represents more than 120,000 members, agricultural producers and consumers grouped into nearly 70 cooperatives with operations spread out in many Canadian provinces. More than 13,000 people are employed at La Coop which has annual revenues of $6.3 billion. Including its affiliated network, La Coop fédérée has nearly 18,000 employees and consolidated revenue of $9.2 billion. Its activities are separated into three Divisions: Olymel S.E.C (under the Olymel, Flamingo and Lafleur banners), the Agri-business division (under the La Coop and Elite banners, Agrico and Agromart), and Groupe BMR under the BMR, Unimat, Agrizone and Potvin & Bouchard banners). For further information, visit www.lacoop.coop. Twitter account : twitter.com/LaCoop_federee.