Fonterra Whareroa sets cheese record, wins top award
Fonterra Whareroa wrapped up a successful season with a record-breaking cheese production volume and several gongs at the co-op's annual Best Site Cup awards.
Fonterra has appointed a board sub-committee to salvage its disastrous investment in Chinese infant formula trader Beingmate.
The co-op says a board working group – that includes independent directors Simon Israel and Clinton Dines - is “providing guidance and oversight” as the senior management team work to recover the investment.
Both Israel and Dines have significant China experience and expertise.
Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings says the co-op is “working hard in the background” on the Beingmate investment.
Spierings acknowledged that revising the Beingmate investment is unacceptable to shareholders and unitholders. “The recovery of the value of this investment is the number one immediate priority for me and the senior management team.
“To be blunt, the investment in Beingmate has not gone the way we expected and there are things we would do differently knowing what we know now. We are very focused on doing all we can to get things where they need to be.”
As an 18.8% shareholder, Fonterra doesn’t have direct control over the Beingmate, which was the number one infant formula in China until two years ago.
But the co-op is working with Beingmate founder and majority shareholder Xie Hong to “influence its direction and an urgent business transformation”.
“We see there are a number of opportunities to reverse the current performance, unlock the distribution network and meet customers’ preferences for e-commerce,” says Spierings.
“While this seems like a slow process and we’re not allowed to share all of the information about Beingmate’s business, we are working hard in the background to get ourselves in a position where there is a tangible action plan for transforming Beingmate that we can share more widely and monitor progress,” says Spierings.
A brilliant result and great news for growers and regional economies. That's how horticulture sector leaders are describing the news that sector exports for the year ended June 30 will reach $8.4 billion - an increase of 19% on last year and is forecast to hit close to $10 billion in 2029.
Funding is proving crucial for predator control despite a broken model reliant on the goodwill of volunteers.
A major milestone on New Zealand's unique journey to eradicate Mycoplasma bovis could come before the end of this year.
We're working through it, and we'll get to it.
The debate around New Zealand's future in the Paris Agreement is heating up.
A technical lab manager for Apata, Phoebe Scherer, has won the Bay of Plenty 2025 Young Grower regional title.
OPINION: It's official, Fieldays 2025 clocked 110,000 visitors over the four days.
OPINION: The Federated Farmers rural advocacy hub at Fieldays has been touted as a great success.