"Our" business?
OPINION: One particular bone the Hound has been gnawing on for years now is how the chattering classes want it both ways when it comes to the success of NZ's dairy industry.
Fonterra has posted a half-year loss of $348 million on the back of a huge write-down of its Beingmate investment in China.
The co-op says it has taken an impairment of $405 million on its 18.8% investment in the troubled Chinese baby food trader.
Chief executive Theo Spierings says the loss includes the Beingmate impairment and the $183m compensation it paid to Danone.
“As these are one-off events, our normalised net profit after tax of $248 million is a better reflection of our underlying operating performance for the half year,” he says.
Fonterra chairman John Wilson says the co-op’s greater China business continues to perform well overall; the review of the value of its Beingmate investment reflects “a fair value at this point in time”.
“While we appreciate the substantial opportunity and privilege of our business in China, our shareholders and unitholders will be rightfully disappointed with this outcome.
“Beingmate’s continued under-performance is unacceptable. The turnaround of the investment is a key priority for our senior management team.”
Wilson says the opportunity in the Chinese infant formula market remains, as does the potential for its Beingmate partnership – “but an immediate business transformation is needed for Beingmate to benefit from the ongoing changes in the market.”
Wilson says the board will decide how the Beingmate impairment and the Danone payment will be treated for final dividend purposes after the end of the financial year when it will have the full picture of Fonterra’s operating performance.
Given the possible impact of these decisions, the board is providing a forecast dividend range for the full-year of 25 – 35 cents per share, rather than just the earnings per share guidance normally given.
Alliance has announced a series of capital raise roadshow event, starting on 29 September in Tuatapere, Southland.
State farmer Pāmu (Landcorp) has announced a new equity partnership in an effort to support pathways to farm ownership for livestock farm operators.
Following a recent overweight incursion that saw a Mid-Canterbury contractor cop a $12,150 fine, the rural contracting industry is calling time on what they consider to be outdated and unworkable regulations regarding weight and dimensions that they say are impeding their businesses.
Trade Minister Todd McClay says his officials plan to meet their US counterparts every month from now on to better understand how the 15% tariff issue there will play out, and try and get some certainty there for our exporters about the future.
Brett Wotton, an Eastern Bay of Plenty kiwifruit grower and harvest contractor, has won the 2025 Kiwifruit Innovation Award for his work to support lifting fruit quality across the industry.
OPINION: Westland Milk may have won the contract to supply butter to Costco NZ but Open Country Dairy is having…
OPINION: The Gene Technology Bill has divided the farming community with strong arguments on both the pros and cons of…