Spierings launches global consultancy
Former Fonterra chief executive Theo Spierings has launched a consultancy to help global companies meet their sustainability goals while lifting profits.
Fonterra has announced a final payout of $6.40/kgMS for the 2011-12 season, a drop of 19% over the previous year.
The final payout includes a lower farmgate milk price of $6.08/kgMS with a dividend of 32c/share. The co-op has retained 10c/share.
Announcing the result, Chairman Henry van der Heyden says the 2012 year had been one out of the box for dairy:
"All around the world, we saw record dairy production which was mirrored back here in New Zealand.
"Global dairy demand held up reasonably well but this ocean of milk obviously impacted on global commodity prices, with the GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) index reaching its lowest value in 34 months in May.
"This contributed to a lower Farmgate Milk Price in the 2012 year, however, the impact of this decline on overall earnings for farmers has been eased a little by the much higher volumes of milk they produced."
Fonterra Chief Executive Theo Spierings says the co-op has posted a strong operating performance, with normalised earnings1 of NZ$1.03 billion for the 2012 year, up 2% on the prior year.
Profit before tax was up 9% on the prior year and net profit after tax was $624 million, down 19%, largely due to tax credits of $202 million in the prior year not repeated in the current year. Excluding those credits, Fonterra's net profit after tax improved by 10%.
Results highlights compared to the prior year include: -
• Record New Zealand milk flows, up 11% to 1,493m kgMS in the current season
• 11% increase in export volumes to 2.32 million metric tonnes (MT)
• Sales volumes increased 2 per cent to 3.94 million MT
• Flat revenues of $19.8 billion
• Higher operating cash flows of $1.4 billion, up $206 million
• Balance sheet strengthened with economic gearing ratio improving from 41.8% to 39.1%
Spierings says the result show Fonterra's success in growing both volumes and value.
"The hard work of our farmers in producing record milk flows was matched by the efforts of the business in processing, selling and shipping these higher volumes, while also managing inventory levels," says Spierings.
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.
Two major red meat sector projects are getting up to a combined $1.7 million in funding from the New Zealand Meat Board (NZMB).
Angus Barr and Tara Dwyer of The Wandle, Lone Star Farms in Strath Taieri have been named the Regional Supreme Winners at the Otago Ballance Farm Environment Awards in Dunedin.
OPINION: The distress that the politicians and bureaucrats are causing to the people of Wairoa and the wider Tairāwhiti is unforgivable.
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.