Fonterra has announced a 50 cent lift in its 2024/25 forecast farmgate milk price midpoint to $9.00 per kgMS.
The company also announced FY25 earnings guidance of 40-60 cents per share.
CEO Miles Hurrell says the lift in this season’s forecast Farmgate Milk Price follows further recent strengthening in Global Dairy Trade prices and constrained milk supply in key producing regions.
“I’m pleased to be announcing an increase in this season’s forecast Farmgate Milk Price, which I’m sure will be welcome news for farmers, particularly when combined with the 55 cent total dividend for FY24 also announced by the Co-op today,” said Hurrell.
Fonterra’s new forecast Farmgate Milk Price range for the 2024/25 season is $8.25-$9.75 per kgMS, with the Co-op continuing to maintain the wide range due to the relatively early stage of the season.
“We’ve also announced today our forecast earnings for FY25 of 40-60 cents per share,” said Mr Hurrell.
“The forecast earnings range reflects an expectation we will maintain strong margins in all three of our sales channels, while also investing in the Co-op’s IT & digital transformation and incurring higher tax expenses.”
Fonterra advises that, after several years of strong earnings performance, the Co-op exhausted its tax losses in FY24 and will now be paying tax.
CEO Andrew Murray said that in future, when the company declares a dividend from FY25 and beyond, credit will be available to be attached to its dividend.
“To enable all shareholders to receive the imputation credits, we are changing how we treat supply backed shares for tax purposes which means that more tax will be paid by Fonterra.,” said Murray.
“While this does not impact the operating performance of Fonterra, it will reduce our reported earnings per share in future years, as Fonterra will have paid the tax on the cash to be distributed.”