In a recent report it was announced that Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (NZX:FCG) outlook has now been given the ‘Stable’ status from ‘Negative’ by Fitch Ratings after the revised rating outlook was revealed.
The revised outlook demonstrates achievement of Fonterra’s calculated evaluation focusing on structural matters. The Company is laying emphasis on NZ operations, reestablishing the intrinsic defensive characteristics that highlighted its general solid business profile.
Marc Rivers, Chief Financial Officer, Fonterra Co-operative is of the view that this novel development represents how the brand has grown from strength to strength in the past few years in terms of review and the effort put into enhancing the Company’s balance sheet.
Markets’ Update
Where on one hand the December production for New Zealand and Australia were revealed to be flat as compared to the previous year, the production in Europe and the US noticed an upward trend.
It was further revealed that the exports in New Zealand and Australia were seen to increase in the month of November 2020, whilst for Europe and the US saw a downward trend, respectively.
The year that was
By the end of December 2020, it was seen that the New Zealand milk collection for Fonterra was about 902.8m kgMS, which was 0.7% lesser than what was recorded in the previous year.
After witnessing fluctuating business in New Zealand in the previous months, December 2020 brought about the respite. With better weather conditions have contributed to the better results in December 2020.
In the month of November, the dairy exports in New Zealand witnessed a rise of 8.7%, as compared to the same time the previous year. In the 12 months leading up to November 2020, there was a lull witnessed in exports presumably due to the decreased trading of cheese, butter, infant formula and so on.
Plans for increased production
In order to fulfill the growing demand for cream cheese in the world, Darfield site of Fonterra has recruited several new people to ramp up the production.
Blake Aston, the manager for the Cream Cheese Plant revealed that the new recruits shall work alongside the pre-existing 3 shifts in the plant, hence increase production by several notches and be able to meet the requirement.
On 5 February, Fonterra last traded at $4.59, rising by 0.66%.
