First Milk to pay dividend to members

First Milk has announced it will pay a dividend to members in April.

The UK’s largest dairy co-operative said an average million-litre producer would receive a dividend of £900, which would come on top of returns payments of £2,700 over the past 14 months.

First Milk sold its 10% stake in Robert Wiseman Dairies earlier this year, after Wiseman was the subject of a takeover approach by German dairy giant Müller. First Milk said its board now planned to allocate a proportion of the profit it made on the sale to member capital accounts, and was currently exploring the most tax-efficient ways of doing this.

“Over the past 14 months, we have made three returns on member investments and are now announcing a dividend and plans to allocate money to member capital accounts,” said First Milk chairman Bill Mustoe.

“We will continue to pass back returns to members if and when the money is in the till.”