Survey shows most Fonterra farmers plan to use capital return for debt reduction
A large slice of the $3.2 billion proposed capital return for Fonterra farmer shareholders could end up with the banks.
Fonterra Ingredients Australia managing director, Simon Bromell says the co-op is also starting a three-year program of investment and upgrades at its manufacturing sites in Victoria.
"To maintain our leading market positions, compete effectively on the world stage and continue to deliver a strong milk price to our farmers, we must ensure our manufacturing sites are efficient and capable of handling the growth we anticipate in the future," he says.
"With that in mind, we have reconfirmed plans to invest $20 million in site upgrades at Cobden and Dennington over the next three years, but we have also had to make the extremely difficult decision to close one site, at Cororooke.
"The Cororooke plant is over 100 years old and needs major upgrades to meet changing environmental and production standards. While our first preference is always to upgrade and maintain our sites, the challenges we face and the barriers to modernising this particular plant mean the most responsible thing to do is close it.
"This has been a tough decision and not one we have reached lightly. We have explored all alternative options to keep the site open but they were not commercially viable. We employ 130 people at Cororooke and supporting these people is our top priority at the moment. We wanted to give our people as much notice as possible, and we are working closely with all employees and their families to support them as we work through a staged closure process over the next year."
