Federated Co-operatives Limited

Member Profile

Federated Co-operatives Limited (FCL) is a multifaceted enterprise based on the fundamental principles of co-operation. FCL provides central marketing services including manufacturing, wholesaling and distribution, as well as administrative services to its member-owners… approximately 270 retail co-operatives located throughout Western Canada. These retail co-operatives and their branches operate in more than 500 communities, providing a variety of products and services to more than 1,300,000 individual co-op members. Together, FCL and its member retail co-operatives are united as the Co-operative Retailing System (CRS), providing employment for more than 18,000 people. In addition to the retail co-operatives, FCL has 20 affiliate and associate members.

The CRS began in 1928 when locally owned retail co-operatives worked together to form provincial wholesales in order to expand their buying power. Over time, co-operative wholesales in the four western provinces, along with Consumers’ Co-operative Refineries Limited (CCRL), joined together to form Federated Co-operatives Limited (the last merger occurred in 1970).

Today, FCL is the largest non-financial co-operative in the country. The National Post Business Magazine’s ranking of Canada’s top 500 corporations ranked FCL’s 2007 net income 55th overall and sales ranked 70th overall. In addition, the Saskatchewan Business Magazine’s ranking of the province’s top 100 companies ranked FCL first based on its 2006 sales.

FCL’s operating divisions consist of: Agro Products, Consumer Products & Logistics, Corporate & Legal Affairs, Environmental & Technical Services, Forest Products, Human Resources, Refinery, Retail, and Treasury. FCL’s role is quite varied but all aspects are directed towards the needs of its member retail co-operatives. FCL provides the following main commodities:

• food (groceries, meat, produce, bakery and pharmacy);

• petroleum (bulk petroleum, propane and gas bars);

• general merchandise (hardware, building products and family fashions);

• crop supplies (crop protection, farm equipment, seed and twine); and

• livestock and poultry feed.

FCL’s services to retail co-ops range from consumer and agro products, through to support services like accounting, auditing, training, human resources, legal support, advertising, printing, and management assistance. FCL also acts as a source for specialists like facilities project planning and construction, field agronomists, livestock and poultry specialists, petroleum engineering and additive information, computer system analysts, recruitment specialists, and any other area that a retail co-op may need guidance.

To serve retail co-ops, FCL operates a home office in Saskatoon and regional offices in Winnipeg, Regina, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton. Distribution centres are located in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Calgary and Edmonton. FCL’s fleet of trucks ensures the flow of goods from suppliers to retail co-ops (the highway trucking fleet consists of 143 merchandising trailers and 103 tankers). FCL operates seven feed plants, where more than 1,000 varieties of animal and poultry feed are produced, and ten propane distribution branches, delivering propane on behalf of retail co-ops direct to farmers, livestock producers, commercial accounts and grain dryers. FCL’s sawmill and plywood plant in Canoe, British Columbia supply many of the lumber products available in retail co-op lumber yards and home centres. In addition, FCL owns a number of corporate food stores and petroleum operations. FCL employs approximately 1,850 people.

Visit online: www.fcl.ca