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Westland chief executive Toni Brendish.
Westland Milk Products (WMP) chief executive Toni Brendish says the co-op may in future look beyond the cow for the products it makes.
Brendish told Dairy News that the new strategy adopted by WMP, which includes the phrase ‘nourishment made beautiful for generations’, deliberately doesn’t limit the organisation to producing only dairy products.
For example, other products made from plant protein or other animal proteins could be processed by the existing WMP plants.
Two years ago the cooperative was in trouble but Brendish says they have turned a corner financially by cutting costs, managing inventory better and building a leaner business.
“The key message from me is that our shareholders have been fantastic. When I first met them last year at the annual meeting I said I wouldn’t be closing the gap in the 2016-17 period because there was too much to fix; I asked them for a year to turn the business around.
“They have given me, the management team and the board the time and space to do the things we needed to do.
“Westland shareholders this year will be rewarded for their patience because we have closed the gap and we will be competitive with the other processors.”
Brendish says WMP is looking at growth opportunities including such high value products as infant formula and nutritional products that are starting to deliver for the co-op.
Westland’s heritage and location are two areas WMP intends to build on to differentiate its products from those of other milk processors.
Brendish points to the heritage of tenacity of WMP shareholders and the unique environment of the West Coast with its good environmental footprint. She also points to WMP’s reputation as a butter producer.
Brendish expects the butter price to come down but not as fast as it went up. She is also cautious about the overall dairy market and the impact this may have on Westland’s payout.
“The pay-out will reflect the trends internationally. We have seen the [recent] GTDs soften and that, plus the combination of events in Europe, means we will see some general softening in prices.
“Westland hasn’t seen milk supply growth so I would say payout is at the lower end of the forecast range – $6.40 to $6.80. We are still within the range and I’m feeling confident of that but I have said to the shareholders that it will be at the lower end and we need to be cautious,” Brendish says.
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