NISA RETAIL is to pay its members a special dividend as it tries to win back their confidence after the loss of a lucrative contract and the departure of its boss.
The company, which supplies more than 1,000 independent shopkeepers with food and drink, has decided to pay a dividend of £14 a share, according to accounts filed with Companies House. The windfall, which totals £743,000, was signed off on July 29 and will be distributed in December.
Costcutter severed its 27-year relationship with Nisa in July, going into partnership with another wholesaler, Palmer and Harvey. The move took away £500m of sales from Nisa — about a third of its annual total — and caused disruption for many of Costcutter’s 2,500 shops.
Nisa said it had replaced some of the shortfall by signing a deal with McColl’s and persuading some Costcutter members to switch allegiance. The accounts show Nisa’s turnover rose 10% to £1.6bn in the year to March, before the turmoil struck, with pre-tax profits rising almost two-thirds to £5.3m.
However, some members are worried about the loss of Costcutter’s business. Their concern intensified last week with the resignation of Neil Turton, chief executive of Nisa since 2007, and Amanda Jones, chief operating officer.
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One member, who declined to be named, said pressure was growing on Nisa’s deputy chairman, Stephen Jempson, who has served three terms and is up for re-election at the annual meeting this month.
Christopher Baker, Nisa’s chairman, said: “The view the board came to was that Stephen Jempson was still independent and would be a recommended candidate. Nisa operates to plc standards, and there are plenty of precedents in the plc world.”
Turton is going to a start-up backed by business publisher William Reed. Jones is moving to Conviviality Retail.