Meat Industry: Silver Fern envious of Fonterra’s shareholder vote
July 12th, 2010
Fonterra’s shareholders’ unanimous vote in favour of share trading among farmers has met the approval of southern-based meat company Silver Fern Farms. SFF chairman Eoin Garden says Fonterra’s capital structure decision is a fundamental recognition of the need to adapt to meet new industry challenges within the dairy industry. He says “this is something the meat industry should take careful note of.”
Last October, 20,000-member co-operative SFF issued just over 81m shares at one dollar each, and listed them on the internet-based securities trading and communications facility, Unlisted. The shares last traded earlier this week at 65c each, and haven’t yet provided a dividend return from the 22 country-wide processing facilities which employ more than 7,000 staff in the peak season.
Garden says dairy’s success has been built on the world’s increasing demand for protein and in a similar way the meat industry should be prospering. “But the meat industry’s focus on production-driven systems and a limited view of the market and consumer needs has kept the handbrake on a sector that needs to take advantage of a growing global population and new opportunities in a range of markets.” He adds a market-led, truly integrated value chain is the only answer and one which we are currently exploring the development of with Government in an application through the Primary Growth Partnership (PGP). The PGP is a Govt-industry initiative which will invest in significant programmes of research and innovation to boost the economic growth and sustainability of NZ’s primary, forestry and food sectors. $40m has been allocated to the scheme for 2010/11.
Copyright © The Main Report Group - NZ AGri-Business
