Medals galore for Fonterra cheeses
Fonterra cheeses are continuing their golden run at the annual New Zealand Cheese Awards.
Fonterra chief executive Miles Hurrell says 2019/20 was a good year for the co-op, with profit up, debt down and a strong milk price.
He made the comments as the co-op announced a $659 million profit for 2019-20 financial year. The co-op had suffered financial losses during the preceding two financial years.
Investors will also get dividend of 5c/share for 2019-20 after missing out in 2018-29.
The final milk price for last year is 7/19/kgMS including the dividend.
Hurrell says the co-op has increased profit after tax by more than $1 billion and reduced debt by more than $1 billion.
“This has put us in a position to start paying dividends again,” he says.
“I’m proud of how farmers and employees have come together to deliver these strong results in a challenging environment. They have had to juggle the extra demands and stress of COVID-19 and have gone above and beyond. I would like to thank them for their hard work and support.
“This time last year we were announcing our new strategy and customer-led operating model. We were clear that to build a sustainable future we needed to focus on three interconnected goals – Healthy People, a Healthy Environment and a Healthy Business.
“We went on to deliver a strong performance for the first half. However, what none of us could have ever predicted was what then played out – a world facing COVID-19. The flow-on effects of the pandemic did impact our performance in the second half, particularly in our Consumer and Foodservice businesses.”
Annual Results Summary
• Final cash payout for 2019/20 season: $7.19 per kgMS
- Final 2019/20 Farmgate Milk Price: $7.14 per kgMS
- 2019/20 dividend: 5 cents per share
• Reported Profit After Tax: $659 million, up $1.3 billion
• Normalised Profit After Tax[1]: $382 million, up $118 million
• Total Group Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT): $1.1 billion, up $1.2 billion
• Total Group normalised EBIT: $879 million, up $67 million
• Total Group normalised gross profit: $3.2 billion, up $200 million
• Total Group normalised operating expenses: $2.3 billion, down $14 million
Analysis by Dunedin-based Techion New Zealand shows the cost of undetected drench resistance in sheep has exploded to an estimated $98 million a year.
Shipping disruption caused by Houthi rebels in the Red Sea has so far not impacted fertiliser prices or supply on farm.
The opportunity to spend more time on farm while providing a dedicated service for shareholders attracted new environmental manager Ben Howden to work for Waimakariri Irrigation Limited (WIL).
Federated Farmers claims that the Otago Regional Council is charging ahead unnecessarily with piling more regulation on rural communities.
Dairy sheep and goat farmers are being told to reduce milk supply as processors face a slump in global demand for their products.
OPINION: We have good friends from way back who had lived in one of our major cities for many years.