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.
OPINION: In recent years Fonterra has been ridiculed by commentators about the fact that it has been upstaged by a young dairy company, a2 Milk.
Just last August, a2 was living the dream, reporting a bumper after-tax profit of $385.6 million on revenues of $1.73 billion.
Its share price, which at one stage had dropped to 10c, hit the giddy heights of $21.50, valuing the company at $15.9 billion, above NZ's biggest co-op.
But the tables have turned. Thanks to three successive profit downgrades, a2's fortunes have tumbled.
In recent weeks, its share price was $9.50, meaning the company has more than halved in value in little over six months.
It's currently worth about $7 billion.
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.