It goes back a long way. The Irish co-op movement began in the early days of the last century.

Sir Horace Plunkett and the Jesuit priest Fr Tom Finlay were among the early proponents of farmers getting together in the interests of their common wellbeing.

The concept has been an enormous success, but success has varied between commodities and individual societies.

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It really hit me last week at the AGM of Tirlán as I listened to the discussion as to whether the dividend on the co-op shares should, as the board proposed, be reduced from 23 cent a share last year to 5 cent this year. Not surprisingly, opinions varied.

The board view was straightforward. “We are in uncertain times and we want to retain the ability to give extra payments or top-ups to farmers supplying us with milk and grain rather than curtail our capacity by paying out dividends.”

In any event, the argument continued. “The total dividend payout will be maintained when the extra PLC dividend from Glanbia, resulting from the spinout that occurred during the year, is taken into account.” The board proposal to cut the co-op dividend was carried overwhelmingly, but that was hardly surprising as the vote was essentially confined to co-op members actually farming. Co-ops usually confine real power to those actively trading with or producing for the enterprise.

The Glanbia AGM held just the week before was unashamedly focused on increasing shareholder returns.

We were even reminded about the damage done to the bottom line by the high price of whey – a product produced from milk and partly supplied by Tirlán!

However the fact that the Tirlán co-op owns over 17% of the shares in Glanbia PLC, valued at over €800 million, means that the co-op shares have a real value even if it is at one remove.

The same applies in the case of FBD. The quoted FBD Holdings company held an uneventful AGM last week.

Profits were acceptable, executive pay was transparent and in line with quoted company norms and the dividends proposed were seen as rewarding shareholders for their investment in the company.

But as with Tirlán, there is a roughly equivalent structure. In the case of FBD, it’s confusingly called FBD PLC, which holds over 25% of the quoted company.

Its AGM is due to be held in a few weeks time but already there are rumblings of inadequate dividends and, as was mentioned at the Tirlán meeting, difficulty in valuing and trading the shares. Co-ops and the FBD structure do not come under ordinary company law but are instead under the Registrar of Friendly Societies.

This, in my view, is a body that has never been particularly active but the recent anomalies call for some reappraisal of the rights of co-op and equivalent shareholders, especially where the shares represent real wealth, the treatment of which varies widely depending on the policies (or whims) of individual boards.