Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG), headquartered in Kansas City, Kansas, held its Annual Shareholders meeting on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 at the Overland Park Convention Center. On this, its 90th year of operations, AWG reported record consolidated net sales of $9.18 billion, an increase of 2.7%. Year-end patronage distribution was over $201.7 million, a new record, or 2.78% of qualifying sales.
Total distribution to our members including promotional allowances, year-end patronage and interest was $546 million. Stock value increased to $2,000 per share, up 4.4% over 2016. Total members’ investment and equity ended the year with a new record at $544 million, up 14%, indicative of AWG’s strong balance sheet.
Looking back at AWG’s history over the past 50 years, shows a compounded annual sales growth of 8.7% and a compounded patronage growth rate on returns to members increase of 11.8% during that time. This astounding performance is wholly due to the strong and dedicated membership base of great retailers.
Final comments shared by David Smith, President and CEO, “This is your company and we serve only one master in this business – our member retailers. Our ongoing mission is to “provide our member-retailers all the tools, products, and services they need to compete favorably in all markets served. This includes top quality supermarket merchandise and support services, all at the lowest possible cost.”
In conclusion Barry Queen, AWG’s Chairman of the Board, told the over 400 attending members, “I challenge each of you to take a hard look at your organizational chart. If you don’t have the “customer” at the top of that chart, followed by those that deal most closely with the customer, then something is wrong.” “Customer service is still an element that differentiates us from our competition, so we better embrace it, believe it and live it”.
Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc. (AWG) is a retailer-owned cooperative serving retail member stores with a complete assortment of grocery, frozen foods, dairy and refrigerated products, fresh meat, and fresh produce, together with a full array of specialty foods, health and beauty care products, international foods, dollar products, and general merchandise items supplied by its wholly owned subsidiary Valu Merchandisers Company (VMC). AWG and VMC operates an extensive distribution network of eleven highly efficient distribution centers, serving over 3,800 retail outlets, representing well over $20 billion in retail supermarket sales, and generating annualized sales of approximately $9.18 billion on a consolidated basis. For more information, visit www.awginc.com or follow @AWGCorporate on Twitter.
Source: Associated Wholesale Grocers, Inc.
