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Generous Co-operative members give £1m dividend to good causes


WEBWIRE

Generous members of The Co-operative Group have donated more than £1m of their interim dividend to charities and community groups.

In the first half of the year, the Group’s 4.8 million members who used their dividend card, earned a total of £16.9m* and those who have accumulated at least £2 will be receiving a payout in the next few days.

However, because half of those receiving a payment have elected to give all, or part, of their share of the profits to charity, £1.2m will also be distributed amongst community groups.

Members receive a cash payment based on the points they earn when they trade at any of the Group’s businesses, which include: The Co-operative Food; Travel; Pharmacy; Funeralcare; Electricals; Motors and Legal Services as well as The Co-operative Bank and The Co-operative Insurance.

The points earned vary across the Co-operative’s family of businesses but in Food, Pharmacy and Electricals members receive one point for every £1 spent.

The interim payment, which will be paid in the form of vouchers or into a bank account, is based on 1p per point but the annual dividend is determined by the Group’s Annual meeting. In 2009 each point was worth 2p.

Peter Marks, Group Chief Executive: “Our interim profits increased by 14 per cent, so I am delighted that our members are sharing in this success and thanks to their generosity it will make a real difference to many charities and local groups that are doing such great work in the local communities we and they serve.”Become a member

Additional Information:

*This is an interim payment that equates to each point being worth 1p. The full profit share payment for 2010 will be decided at The Co-operative Group’s Annual Meeting in May 2011. If the value of a point is declared to be worth more than 1p, a retrospective payment will be made and applied to all points earned in the first half of the year.

In most cases a member will earn one point for each pound spent, however there are some exceptions.

Full details of how points are earned are listed on the website: www.co‑operative.co.uk/membership.

Becoming a member of The Co-operative Group costs just £1. Members earn points on the trade they do with all the Group’s businesses and these are then converted into a share of the profits with payments being made twice a year in June and November. Because the payments are linked to the profits of the Group, the value of the points varies year on year.

Members will receive their individual payments either directly into their bank account or in vouchers that can be spent or converted into cash in the Group’s outlets.

The Co-operative Group engages in many charity and corporate social responsibility activities from promoting facts about Climate change and Global Poverty and fairtrade food which the Co-operative Food are a leading champion of with many fairtrade food stuffs such as coffee, wine and chocolate available in stores.



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