2007 Dividend

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28774983.post-49359840985242538462008-06-24T08:00:00.002+01:002008-07-01T18:15:47.957+01:002007 Dividend<a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_UAGlDQg--Rk/SF_7daYWGhI/AAAAAAAAASY/GG7mAlTGhZg/s1600-h/pound+coins.jpeg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5215163376234535442" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_UAGlDQg--Rk/SF_7daYWGhI/AAAAAAAAASY/GG7mAlTGhZg/s320/pound%2Bcoins.jpeg" border="0" /></a>Dividend for the year January-December 2007 should now be popping through the letterboxes of members of the <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/">Co-operative Group</a>. Members who keep a track of these things will note that the <a href="http://cambridgeco-operation.blogspot.com/2008/05/co-op-group-2007-annual-report.html">increasing profitability</a> of the society has meant that the dividend per point has almost doubled - from 1.46p per point <a href="http://cambridgeco-operation.blogspot.com/2007/06/dividend.html">in 2006</a> to 2.63p per point now. You get 1 point per pound spent at most of our businesses (for most goods), and <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/membership/membersshareoftheprofits/pointsawardedforbankingandinsurance/">extra points from the Co-op Bank and CIS</a> based on the number of products you hold with them, and how much you've saved or borrowed. By the way, you will have received an <a href="http://cambridgeco-operation.blogspot.com/2008/01/interim-dividend-2007.html">interim dividend in December</a> for the first part of the year - this final June payment tops this up to the required 2.63p per point level. I can tell you now that if you've got a mortgage and car insurance with the Co-op, you are really in the money; my fiancee and I got over £50 from our trade with <a href="http://www.cfs.co.uk/">CFS</a> alone - watch out, <a href="http://www.co-operative.coop/food/Fairtrade/ourfairtradeproducts/beerswinesandspirits/">Fairtrade wine aisle</a>! In total, a record £44.9m has been paid out to our customer-members (of which £550k was kindly donated by them to the <a href="http://cambridgeco-operation.blogspot.com/2008/06/community-fund-allocations-may-2008.html">Community Fund</a>). In addition, we've paid a dividend of £24.9m to our corporate members (like the <a href="http://www.eastofengland.coop/">East of England Co-op</a>, or the <a href="http://www.midcounties.coop/">Midcounties Co-op</a>), and £19.9m as a special bonus to employees who are members. This is one of the two big differences between consumer co-operatives and conventional, investor-owned, retailers like Asda and Tesco - not only do we try to earn our profit in a democratically controlled, ethically sound way, but when we do earn it we reward our members in proportion to their trade. Edited 1/7/08: Some inaccuracies in the statistics at the end, now corrected.Samhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03719569578290270997noreply@blogger.com