That was estimated to produce a net return to shareholders, after retained earnings, of $5.30 to $5.70. The co-operative’s previous estimate was a net range, after retained earnings, of $4.55 to $4.95.
The move followed recent milk price forecast upgrades by both Fonterra and Synlait Milk to $6.
In a statement, chief executive Toni Brendish said the lift had been made possible by the increase in global dairy market prices and improvements to the efficiency in Westland’s production and quality assurance processes.
Westland would also raise its advance payout rate to shareholders to $4 per kg/ms, which was up from $3.80.
Ms Brendish said the global dairy market remained volatile and industry commentators did not have a consensus on where final payout figures were likely to settle.
Westland’s financial performance has come under fire this year, with a $14.5million reported net loss after tax for the financial year ended July 31.
Two new directors were announced at the co-operative’s annual meeting yesterday – prominent West Coast dairy farmer Katie Milne and Canterbury dairy farmer Sven Koops.
Ms Milne was the 2015 Dairy Woman of the Year and is on the national board of Federated Farmers.
Mr Koops farms at Saltwater Creek, just north of Christchurch, and has background in dairy business roles, particularly with Fonterra but also with other international companies and for the United States Department of Agriculture at the US Embassy in Wellington.
At the annual meeting, retiring chairman, Matt O’Regan, acknowledged Westland’s low payout of $3.62, topped up from equity to a final payout of $3.88, was »beyond disappointing», below break-even point for farmers and represented a failure of the company’s goal to be industry competitive.
However, he said the company’s strategy for growing Westland’s capacity to produce value-added products was, and remained, a sound one.
»While the strategy was not at fault, I have to acknowledge that some aspects of its delivery were not up to standard at both managerial and board level. This, coupled with external market factors over which we had little to no control, produced the poor result detailed in our annual report,» he said.
Mr O’Regan acknowledged changes had to be made and, during the meeting, a shareholder resolution for a complete review of the board and its governance and performance was passed almost unanimously, with the support of the board.
Ms Brendish, the company’s new chief executive, had moved quickly to restructure the senior management team, he said.
Source: ODT
Link: https://www.odt.co.nz/business/farming/westland-predicted-payout-increased
