Chief executive Toni Brendish who is six months into the job is leading the shakeup.
Since her appointment chairman Matt O’Regan resigned, so did director Sven Koops two months after his appointment, and chief financial officer Kim Wallace is also departing.
The shakeup is taking place against two years of low payouts and the last forecast payout for the coming season of $5.90 per kilogram of milksolids, compared with Fonterra’s $6, Synlait’s $6.25, and Tatua’s $6.30.
Suppliers vented their frustrations about the below break-even payout at the annual meeting before Christmas – compounded by wet and cool weather which has knocked production on West Coast farms.
But Brendish confirmed Westland Milk suppliers had all remained loyal in spite of the strong words from some of them recently.
The board meeting next week will include a vote on a new chairman, but a Koops replacement may await the result of a shareholder-led governance review agreed at the last annual meeting.
Paul Jarman, who is a supplier based in Darfield in Canterbury, said he was confident about the new chief executive and was happy to remain a Westland supplier.
Most of the milk from his farm went to Westland’s new UHT milk plant at nearby Rolleston.
The strategy of establishing production on both sides of the Southern Alps was the correct one even if the implementation required improvement, he said.
Overall, Jarman said he liked Westland’s cooperative model.
Last year Westland reported a final payout for the recent season of $3.62 per kilogram of milksolids, topped up from equity to a final payout of $3.88.
The company posted a net loss after tax of $14.5 million for the year ended July 2016.
The performance prompted new chief executive Brendish’s review.
She said before Christmas the current structure and staff roles were not delivering best results and she would not comment further until March of this year.
Westland Milk Products is New Zealand’s second biggest dairy co-operative with turnover of about $850m, althugh much smaller than Fonterra.
Source: Stuff
Link: http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/89718163/westland-milk-under-pressure-to-deliver-next-week
