Nisa members are set to receive a share of nearly £5m in surplus and dividend payments.

The retail buying group will hand out surplus payments of £4.6m, plus a further £350,000 in dividends.

It is the third successive year of bumper payouts from Nisa. Last year it dished out £5m to its members, and in 2010 shared out some £4.5m.

The news came as Nisa revealed a 4.2% increase in full-year turnover to £1.58bn. Cases delivered through its central distribution services also topped 108 million for the year.

The increase had come from a record-breaking level of new member recruitment, cost savings following its new distribution contract with DHL and the continued development of its symbol fascia, said Nisa finance director Simon Webster.

“Despite the company being faced with a number of challenges this year, such as members selling out to multiple operators, the business has shown its resilience and has achieved pleasing sales and volumes figures,” he added.

“The fact we operate on a low profit margin, passed back to our membership, demonstrates our unique focus on creating benefits to members rather than to the central business or profits for external shareholders.”

The latest recruit to Nisa is Scotmid Co-operative Society’s pharmacy chain Semichem. It has more than 140 stores across Scotland, Northern Ireland and the North of England and plans to use Nisa to increase its impulse offer and run more promotions.

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