Friday, 04 December 2020 09:15

Fonterra delivers solid first quarter results

Written by  Sudesh Kissun
Chief executive Miles Hurrell says he's pleased by the result. Chief executive Miles Hurrell says he's pleased by the result.

Fonterra is reporting a first quarter gross profit of $270 million, up $72m on the same period last year.

Chief executive Miles Hurrell says he is pleased with the progress the co-op has made in the first quarter- from August to October 2020. The co-op has continued to make progress on implementing its strategy.

“Despite ongoing market disruptions from COVID-19, we are continuing to build on the momentum achieved in the last financial year,” he says.

Sales volumes are in line with the same period last year, which was before the full impact of COVID-19.

“This reflects strong demand for dairy and careful management of our supply chain,’ says Hurrell.

“We’ve seen improvements right across our business, which has resulted in a 40% increase in our normalised earnings. There’s been a couple of exceptions to this – Europe, which has been impacted by higher costs, and Africa, which has been impacted by lower volumes as we have shifted product to meet strong demand across Asia.”

Fonterra’s Greater China Foodservice business has been the stand-out performer: demand for dairy in China continued to recover strongly from COVID-19.

The co-op expanded its foodservice business into another 13 cities in China, bringing the total number of cities it operates in to more than 360. 

“And our teams are helping to drive demand by continuously releasing new innovative ways of using our products in local cuisine as they pursue the next big food trend in China,” says Hurrell.

Demand in the Southeast Asia (SEA) Consumer business has improved year-on-year, while the SEA Foodservice business has started to recover as COVID-19 restrictions eased in some markets.

More like this

Featured

Southland Farmers Face Wet Weather Toll, Support Available

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.

How Wearable Tech Powers This 1,850-Cow Dairy Farm

For Canterbury dairy farmers Sian Meijer and Rick Wobben, wearable technology has become one of their most valuable on-farm tools - helping manage 1850 cows across an expansive, high-performing dairy operation while improving efficiency, mating outcomes and day-to-day decision making.

New Dairy Welfare Code Released, Takes Effect 2027

The first major update to the Dairy Cattle Code of Welfare in more than a decade has been released, marking what DairyNZ describes as an important step in ensuring animal welfare standards continue to evolve alongside scientific evidence and on-farm realities.

National

Machinery & Products

» Latest Print Issues Online

Milking It

» Connect with Dairy News

» eNewsletter

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter