August 28, 2023
Bega Cheese – owners of the Kingaroy-based Peanut Company of Australia – has recorded a $229.9 million statutory loss after tax.
However, its “normalised” results – adjusted to remove the effects of a one-off $230 million revaluation of some assets – showed a profit after tax to June 30 of $28.5 million.
This was still down 38 per cent on the previous 12 months despite a rise in revenue and working capital.
Bega released its full year audited results in a statement to the ASX last Thursday.
“The group achieved revenue of $3.4 billion for the year, up 12 per cent on the prior year, closing the year with a net debt of $203.6 million, a reduction of 23 per cent on FY2022,” the statement said.
Working capital was up 57 per cent to $224.8 million.
The statement blamed a continued decline in milk production in Australia, and excess milk manufacturing capacity, for creating “a highly competitive milk procurement environment”.
It pointed to a “disconnect” between Australian farmgate milk prices and “returns from internationally traded commodity markets”.
The company has planned a restructure to cut costs in bulk dairy commodity production but at the same time keep the capacity to respond to international commodity market opportunities when they arise.
It announced a 3.0 cents per share final fully franked dividend, taking the total dividend for the year to 7.5 cents per share.
