New Zealand Co-operative and Mutual Top 30

Top 30 Co-ops

New Zealand Co-operative and Mutual Top 30

Revenue -

Rank	Co-operative	Revenue (in Millions)
1.	Fonterra Co-operative Group	18,845.0
2.	Foodstuffs - North Island	6,238.8
3.	Foodstuffs - South Island	2,721.3
4.	Silver Fern Farms	2,434.4
5.	Farmlands Co-operative	2,210.0
6.	Alliance Group	1,501.5
7.	Zespri	1,458.6
8.	Ballance Agri-Nutrients	892.7
9.	Southern Cross Medical Care Society	817.8
10.	Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative	711.4
11.	Mitre 10 (New Zealand)	708.6
12.	Westland Co-operative Dairy Co	639.3
13.	Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative	398.0
14.	Market Gardeners	328.9
15.	CDC Pharmaceuticals	293.1
16.	Tatua Co-operative Dairy Co	285.7
17.	Capricorn Society	261.4
18.	Livestock Improvement Corporation	228.4
19.	FMG (FMG Insurance Limited)	209.3
20.	Southland Building Society (SBS Bank)	183.3
21.	NZPM Group	174.8
22.	Dairy Goat Cooperative (NZ)	156.7
23.	Eastpack	135.2
24.	Pharmacy Wholesalers (Bay of Plenty)	132.9
25.	Ashburton Trading Society	119.4
26.	The Co-operative Bank	110.7
27.	Union Medical Benefits Society	52.7
28.	Electricity Ashburton	46.8
29.	Medical Assurance Society	32.7
30.	Co-op Money NZ	24.7

 

Total Revenue = $NZ 42.354 billion pa.

Notes - Organisations were drawn from the 2015 Top 40 Co-operatives and Mutuals by revenue published by Cooperative Business New Zealand and who meet the member/user ownership, control and benefits criteria elaborated on in the methodology. We except this definition excludes some organisations that operate as co-operatives or mutuals in other countries but not in New Zealand since in these instances ownership, control and benefits accrue to the overseas members (e.g. Rabobank). Data on revenue was gathered from annual reports and/or financial statements published by the organisations. These were retrieved from the NZ Companies Office register or from the organisations’ websites. Where annual reports or financial statements were not publically available, the information was sourced by contacting the organisations directly. The reporting period considered was 2014/2015. However, there is some variability in the reporting period/financial year among the co-operatives and mutuals. Revenue for Capricorn Society Limited in New Zealand and Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative are not the revenue figures reported on the Profit and Loss statements. The figures represent the total value of purchases made by respective Members (e.g. retail stores) from their parent company buying offices.  

Assets -

Rank	Co-operative	Total Assets (in Millions)
1.	Fonterra Co-operative Group	18,315.0
2.	Southland Building Society (SBS Bank)	2,862.6
3.	Foodstuffs - North Island	2,645.6
4.	The Co-operative Bank	1,806.3
5.	Foodstuffs South Island	1,010.5
6.	Silver Fern Farms	627.0
7.	Southern Cross Medical Care Society	602.1
8.	Ballance Agri-Nutrients	541.8
9.	Westland Co-operative Dairy Co	538.1
10.	Alliance Group	536.1
11.	Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative	533.2
12.	Zespri	461.2
13.	FMG (FMG Insurance Limited)	419.1
14.	Farmlands Co-operative	411.6
15.	Livestock Improvement Corporation	301.5
16.	Electricity Ashburton	251.1
17.	Tatua Co-operative Dairy Co	241.4
18.	Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ)	232.3
19.	Market Gardeners	180.2
20.	Mitre 10 (New Zealand)	174.8
21.	Eastpack	139.6
22.	Co-op Money NZ	115.9
23.	Union Medical Benefits Society	112.7
24.	NZPM Group	111.4
25.	Medical Assurance Society	85.5
26.	Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative	68.5
27.	CDC Pharmaceuticals	63.3
28.	Capricorn Society	35.5
29.	Ashburton Trading Society	31.3
30.	Pharmacy Wholesalers (Bay of Plenty)	22.4

Total Assets = $ NZ 33,477.7 billion

Notes - Data on total assets was gathered from annual reports and/or financial statements published by the organisations. These were retrieved from the NZ Companies Office register or from the organisations’ websites. Where annual reports or financial statements were not publically available, the information was sourced by contacting the organisations directly. The reporting period considered was 2014/2015. However, there is some variability in the reporting period/financial year among the co-operatives and mutuals.  

Employees -

Rank	Co-operative	Number of Employees
1.	Fonterra Co-operative Group	22,000
2.	Silver Fern Farms	7,000
3.	Alliance Group	4,700
4.	Eastpack	2,700
5.	Foodstuffs - North Island	1,800
6.	Foodstuffs South Island	1,350
7.	Farmlands Co-operative	1,000
8.	Ballance Agri-Nutrients	760
9.	Southern Cross Medical Care Society	750
10.	Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative	750
11.	Mitre 10 (New Zealand)	750
12.	Livestock Improvement Corporation	710
13.	NZPM Group	603
14.	FMG (FMG Insurance Limited)	468
15.	Westland Co-operative Dairy Co	375
16.	Market Gardeners	360
17.	Southland Building Society (SBS Bank)	350
18.	Tatua Co-operative Dairy Co	345
19.	The Co-operative Bank	310
20.	Zespri	250
21.	Capricorn Society	214
22.	Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ)	190
23.	Electricity Ashburton	175
24.	Medical Assurance Society	175
25.	CDC Pharmaceuticals	125
26.	Ashburton Trading Society	90
27.	Co-op Money NZ	60
28.	Pharmacy Wholesalers (Bay of Plenty)	35
29.	Union Medical Benefits Society	35
30.	Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative	25

Total Employees = 48,455

Notes - Data on employees was sourced from annual reports and/or financial statements published by the organisations. These were retrieved from the NZ Companies Office register or from the organisations’ websites. Where data on employee numbers was not available from annual reports, the information was sourced from responses to the University of Auckland Icehouse survey or the Kompass database. Since the Kompass database provides a range for employee numbers, the midpoint of the range was used, and hence the data should be interpreted with caution. The reporting period considered was 2014/2015. However, there is some variability in the reporting period/financial year among the co-operatives and mutuals. Some data includes overseas employees  

Members -

Rank	Co-operative	Number of Memberships
1.	Southern Cross Medical Care Society	811,462
2.	Co-op Money NZ	190,000
3.	The Co-operative Bank	120,000
4.	Farmlands Co-operative	62,500
5.	FMG (FMG Insurance Limited)	52,000
6.	Southland Building Society (SBS Bank)	40,000
7.	Medical Assurance Society	28,000
8.	Ravensdown Fertiliser Co-operative	26,000
9.	Ballance Agri-Nutrients	19,250
10.	Electricity Ashburton	12,782
11.	Fonterra Co-operative Group	10,753
12.	Livestock Improvement Corporation	10,537
13.	Silver Fern Farms	6,000
14.	Alliance Group	5,000
15.	Capricorn Society	3,660
16.	Zespri	3,000
17.	Ashburton Trading Society	2,701
18.	NZPM Group	1,000
19.	Foodstuffs South Island	500
20.	Eastpack	500
21.	Foodstuffs - North Island	433
22.	Westland Co-operative Dairy Co	400
23.	CDC Pharmaceuticals	270
24.	Market Gardeners	240
25.	Pharmacy Wholesalers (Bay of Plenty)	170
26.	Tatua Co-operative Dairy Co	118
27.	Independent Timber Merchants Co-operative	94
28.	Dairy Goat Co-operative (NZ)	72
29.	Mitre 10 (New Zealand)	65
30.	Union Medical Benefits Society

Total Members = 1,407,507

Notes- Data was sourced from annual reports and/or financial statements published by the organisations. These were retrieved from the NZ Companies Office register or from the organisations’ websites. Where data on membership numbers was not available from annual reports or organisations websites, it was supplied by Cooperative Business New Zealand or sourced from responses to the University of Auckland Icehouse survey. These are counts of memberships. We recognise that some members will belong to more than one co-operative or mutual that is listed. Data on individual members is not publicly available to report the number of individual members. The reporting period considered was 2014/2015. However, there is some variability in the reporting period/financial year among the co-operatives and mutuals.

New Zealand’s earliest co-operatives

To the best of our knowledge, Nelson Building Society was the first co-operative (and building society) established in New Zealand – in 1864.

Established in 1869 in Southland, SBS Bank (pictured, below left) is believed to be the first building society in the world to have achieved bank registration while retaining its mutual structure. In 147 years, the ‘member bank’ has sustained mutual trust, mutual benefits and mutual respect. Read our Member Profile.

New Zealand’s first recorded producer co-operative was formed in 1871.

While attempts to set up consumer co-operatives have been recorded as early as the 1840s, the earliest record of a producer co-operative in New Zealand reports the formation of the Otago Cooperative Cheese Co. at John Mathieson’s Springfield farm on the Otago Peninsula, near Dunedin, on 22 August 1871. Please refer to photo bottom right.

Each of the eight dairy farmers purchased shares based on the amount of milk to be supplied, with each share having a value of £1 and representing the supply of ten quarts of milk.

Three enamelled cast-iron tubs, each holding up to 50 pounds of curd, were set in the kitchen wing, while a wooden vat holding 100 gallons of milk was installed in the stone-walled barn across the driveway. By the end of the first season, they had produced three tons of cheese.

This pioneering co-op is now part of dairy giant, Fonterra Co-operative Group.

According to the Historic Places Trust, this was most likely the first co-operative dairy factory in the southern hemisphere, preceded only by those in Norway and Switzerland.

By 1900, there were 111 co-operatives operating within the NZ dairy industry and 152 investor-owned companies.

The general principles adopted by this co-operative were typical of those which have prevailed in co-operative societies and companies through to the present day.

Extract and copy right https://nz.coop/co-ops-new-zealand/