Fonterra, Sharesies join to make share trading easier
Fonterra is teaming up with wealth app provider Sharesies to make it easier for its farmer shareholders to trade co-op shares among themselves.
Fonterra chairman John Monaghan will retire at the co-op’s annual meeting in November.
In a note to farmer shareholders and unitholders, Monaghan explained that his decision was the next step in the Fonterra Board’s development and succession planning.
“After 11 years as a Director, and having seen through the introduction of our new strategy, operating model, and with our debt reduction efforts well progressed, the timing is right for me and for the co-op.
“The board is committed to a planned chair succession that provides Miles (chief executive Miles Hurrell) and his senior management team with the governance stability and confidence they need to maintain the co-op’s momentum”, says Monaghan.
Fonterra said its board’s current plan was to announce a chair-elect by no later than August this year. That timeline would give its farmer-owners transparency of leadership prior to the cooperative’s director elections and allow for a period of handover before Monaghan retires from the board.
Under Fonterra’s constitution, its chairman must be selected from its pool of seven elected farmer directors on the board. Its independent directors are not eligible for consideration as chairman.
The cooperative also provided an update on a replacement for former independent director Simon Israel, who retired from its board in November last year.
Fonterra says it is making good progress on securing a replacement for Israel and will update its farmer-owners and unit holders once a suitable candidate has been confirmed.
The country’s 4200 commercial fruit and vegetable growers will vote from May 14 on a new HortNZ levy.
Meat processor Alliance Group is asking farmer shareholders to inject more capital in order to remain a 100% co-operative.
A vet is calling for all animals to be vaccinated against a new strain of leptospirosis (lepto) discovered on New Zealand dairy farms in recent years.
Dairy
Rural banker Rabobank is partnering with Food Rescue Kitchen on a new TV series which airs this weekend that aims to shine a light on the real and growing issues of food waste, food poverty and social isolation in New Zealand.
Telco infrastructure provider Chorus says that it believes all Kiwis – particularly those in the rural areas – need access to high-speed, reliable broadband.
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