AWG Posts Record Sales of $7.7 Billion

Associated Wholesale Grocers (AWG), reported record net sales of $7.77 billion on a consolidated basis, and distributed a record $163.8 million in year-end patronage at its annual shareholders’ meeting on March 18, 2012. AWG’s sales represented a $520 million increase over the previous year, or 7.2 percent.

AWG’s year-end patronage rebate amounted to 2.71 percent of qualifying warehouse sales, also another record for the Kansas City, Kan.-based cooperative. Including allowances, AWG rebated $482 million to members, whose total gross profit on sales within were 6.16 percent before patronage payout, which represents a 16 basis-point decline from the prior year, attributable to the lower cost of grocery products.

AWG also posted a 4.1 percent increase in the trading value for AWG stock, to $1,635 per share. In addition, AWG’s private brands, Best Choice and Always Save, also achieved record sales of nearly $1.1 billion in 2011.

“We are extremely proud of this year’s financial results,” Jerry Garland, AWG’s president and CEO said, noting the co-op’s record performances in virtually every area of operations. “Our consistent performance is a testament to the co-operative model where everyone has the same opportunity for success, and where transparency in the numbers breeds trust.”

In concert with the theme of the annual shareholder’s meeting, “Come Grow With Us,” Garland said AWG is on track to open its seventh distribution center in Pearl River, La. “The Gulf Coast area has many of the country’s finest family-owned supermarket operators, and we believe that our company will bring a lower cost of goods to these retailers. In addition, this facility will afford them the opportunity to take advantage of AWG services such as our award-winning décor and design service, store engineering, retail training, and more.”

AWG is the second largest retailer-owned food distribution co-operative in the country supplying over 620 members operating over 2,814 retail outlets in 24 states through an extensive network of eight distribution centers.