 Southern Co-op had no bank debt and the pension scheme was fully funded with a £7.1m surplus (£2.5m surplus 2017/18) as at 27 January 2019.Society membership was 144,000 in 2018/19, down from 158,000 in 2017/18.Southern Co-op was formed in 1873 by dockyard workers who had transferred from Woolwich docks in east London to the Portsmouth dockyard.