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 farmers are emotional but realistic about losing some iconic business units — notably Tip Top, says Fonterra Shareholders Council chairman Duncan Coull.
“No denying there are some emotions out there although deep down there is realisation that hard calls need to be made,” Coull told Dairy News.
He says Fonterra needs to change fundamentally, not just around the edges.
The co-op last week confirmed it was talking to several potential buyers for its ice cream business Tip Top.
Taranaki dairy farmer Matthew Herbert started an online petition three months ago to block the sale of Tip Top; it has garnered over 15,000 signatures so far.
Herbert says Tip Top ice cream is an important link between fresh milk from Fonterra farmers and the city dwellers consuming the products.
Chief executive Miles Hurrell says the co-op must sell some assets to reduce its debt by $800 million by the end of this financial year. Tip Top is one of three assets up for immediate sale; a final decision on its sale will be made before July 31.
Fonterra has already bought back the 51% stake in its Darnum plant in Victoria that it had sold to the Chinese company Beingmate.
The co-op is mulling the sale of its 19% stake in Beingmate, bought in 2014 for $750 million but since written down by $405m due to the company’s poor performance.
And the co-op last week said its portfolio review had also raised questions about DFE Pharma, a 50/50 joint venture set up in 2006 with the Dutch co-op FrieslandCampina.
Hurrell says Fonterra has told FrieslandCampina that it has started a process to sell its 50% share of DFE Pharma.
“Together with our partner, we have grown DFE Pharma from relatively small beginnings into a significant and successful business. While DFE continues to perform well, our ownership of it is not core to our strategy.”
Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford is claiming “some real success” on the 12 policy priorities it placed before the Coalition Government.
Federated Farmers is throwing its support behind the Fast-track Approvals Bill introduced by the Coalition Government to enable a fast-track decision-making process for infrastructure and development projects.
The latest report from ANZ isn’t good news for sheep farmers: lamb returns are forecast to remain low.
Divine table grapes that herald the start of a brand-new industry in Hawke’s Bay have been coming off vines in Maraekakaho.
In what appears to be a casualty of the downturn in the agricultural sector, a well-known machinery brand is now in the hands of liquidators and owing creditors $6.6 million.
One of New Zealand’s deepest breeder Jersey herds – known for its enduring connection through cattle with the UK’s longest reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II – will host its 75th anniversary celebration sale on-farm on April 22.
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