Staff and members remained united during the last Broadview Co-op Annual General Meeting, looking toward a future of growth and change with the newly amalgamated Hometown Co-op.
A report of the year in review, a special announcement, and expression of appreciation were delivered at the last independent AGM held on Thursday evening.
The merger of the Grenfell and Broadview Co-ops raised questions and concerns amongst members and attendees in respect to future equities, allocations and business operations.
Co-op President Dave Sifton addressed inquiries reconfirming the Co-op’s commitment to its members, promising utmost effort and requesting patience throughout the transition.
“Going forward into Hometown we will continue to grow,” said Sifton. “But it is a learning experience. We are looking forward to the future.”
The amalgamation will bring about shared management, equipment and opportunity.
Homeland Co-op is making gains toward expanding and improving its service with the purchase of the Wolseley fuel truck. Hometown Co-op is now delivering fuel, and has established fuel agreements, with Wolseley and Sintaluta; while continuing management agreements with Kipling and Sintaluta. Hometown Co-op is also completing renovations at the Broadview Service Centre, and has announced the purchase of 37-acres of land for construction of a new C-store in Broadview.
The Annual General Meeting also reviewed the challenges and successes of 2011.
Vice-President Lawrence Swanson reported that the Federated Co-ops Limited annual conference was quiet this year in terms of resolutions, and that 2011 was an overall profitable year. He said despite the explosion at the Co-op Upgrader in Regina (Oct. 6, 201!), construction on the expansion is moving ahead seemingly on budget and on time.
In respect to the Broadview Co-op in particular, Sefton said the temperamental weather and poor farming season did have an affect on the petroleum and agro sectors, ultimately affecting Broadview Co-op’s bottom line.
“That impacted the Broadview Co-op because the tractors and combines didn’t roll out during the season so our sales were curtailed and of course we still had the overhead to cover.”
Sefton also spoke in brief regards to hardware sales, saying hardware is a continual challenge due to the pricing structure used by Federated and the competition of big box stores in Regina and Yorkton.
Despite the challenges, Broadview Co-op distributed a 2011 Saving Patronage Refund (allocation) of $231,904 to members.
Numbers for 2011 were calculated over a 13-month period, as the year-end was moved from Oct. 31 to Nov. 30 (and will be so in the future). Sales posted in 2011 were similar to those of 2010, though margins were higher due to good management decisions and tightening of expenses. Sales from 2011 were $15,722,204 compared to $15,969,148 in 2010.
Net increase in cash and cash equivalents for 2011 was $962,258.
Board members for 2011 will include: Dave Sefton, Lawrence Swanson, Deanna Lerat, Sheena Goodbrand, Gary Bolink, Lloyd Gwilliam, Valerie Parrot, Karl Kennett, Ken McPherson and Jay Jenkins.
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