Fonterra FY26 Results: $9.69 Milk Price, $3.4bn Profit
Fonterra has unveiled its annual results for the 2026 financial year, posting $27 billion in revenue and close to $20 billion returned to New Zealand farmer owners and unit holders.
Fonterra staff could be facing another wave of job cuts next month.
Last week, the co-op said 523 jobs would go in September from its central procurement, finance, information services, human resources, strategy and legal teams.
And it says that on August 5 it will begin consulting on new business structures with people in administration, ingredients sales, consumer, marketing, R&D, communications, health and safety, food safety and quality, group resilience and risk, property, procurement and change management.
The 523 roles will be disestablished at a one-off cost of $12m-$15m, making payroll savings of $55m-$60m.
Chief executive Theo Spierings says the news had been unsettling for the people affected but the co-op had to change to remain strongly competitive in today’s global dairy market.
“Reducing the number of roles in our business isn’t about individual competency; it’s about continually improving the way we perform.”
Spierings says the co-op’s leaders are working to increase value right across the organisation.
“The key aims of the review are to ensure the cooperative is best placed to successfully deliver its strategy, increase focus on generating cashflow, and implement specific, sustainable measures for enhancing efficiency.
“A simple example already identified by our supply chain team is [better use] of export containers leaving our distribution centres, saving up to $5m a year.”
The review includes measures to improve profitability in Fonterra’s Australian business and extra measures to achieve more value.
The Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners (the College) and Hauora Taiwhenua Rural Health Network are calling for investment in a proposed new training pathway for rural GPs, warning that many rural practices are struggling to recruit while a large share of the existing workforce nears retirement.
Federated Farmers has called on Central Otago District Council (CODC) to drop or vote down a plan to truck sludge from Alexandra and Cromwell to farmland near Lauder, warning it would compound an "outrageous" situation created by a separate council's decision weeks earlier.
Synlait has swung to second-half profit as operations stabilise, but the dairy processor still posted a $75.4m annual loss.
LIC shareholders have elected a new North Island representative to the co-operative's Board, along with five representatives to its Shareholder Reference Group (SRG), following the company's Annual Meeting held in Invercargill.
Farmers across parts of Southland and South Otago are continuing to deal with difficult conditions after a prolonged run of wet weather, with pressure building around feed supply, stock management, pasture damage, farm infrastructure and everyday workloads.
Federated Farmers says it welcomes Labour's commitment to reviewing the Sharemilking Agreements Act, calling on other major parties to do the same.
OPINION: It seems Canterbury processor Synlait is still in the doldrums.
OPINION: Get offside with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters at your own peril.