Not Out of the Woods Yet

In a message to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, the listed company warned that its annual numbers “will be a long way from where we want them to be”.

The company is asking the market to brace for a net loss of $75m, almost double the $40m loss of last year.

The company has offloaded North Island assets as part of a reset, however, getting back into the black seems more challenging than expected.

Synlait’s woes led to speculation that both Fonterra and a2Milk could snap up the business from Chinese dairy giant Bright Dairy.

There’s also the possibility of NZ’s second largest processor, Open Country Dairy, buying the struggling business like it did recently with Taupo-based processor Miraka.