Fonterra publishes its first ever results

New Zealand’s largest company, dairy co-operatove Fonterra, has announced its first ever set of results covering business for the six months to 30 November 2001.
For the period, the company recorded revenue of NZ$7 billion (e3.4 billion). It said that this reflected good international market prices at the beginning of the period. More recently prices have fallen, especially for milk powder.
Commenting on the results, Fonterra chief financial officer Graham Stuart said the company’s progress had been satisfactory, but warned: “The challenge ahead of us is to maintain our performance in the more difficult international environment for the remainder of the financial year.” During the six months, Fonterra shareholders supplied 518 million kg of milk solids.
After publication of the results, Fonterra warned that because dairy farming in New Zealand is seasonal, financial performance in the first half is not necessarily indicative of the likely full year outcome.
Fonterra has an annual turnover of approximately e6.8 billion.
The results are the first to be published since the company was formed from the merger of Kiwi Co-operative Dairies, New Zealand Co-operative Dairy Company and the New Zealand Dairy Board.