Silver Ferm Farms

[percy]

$1.60!

That offsets my impatirnce waiting for the announcement!

Result out.
A 100% imputed dividend of 12.9 cents per share payable to all ordinary and rebate shareholders.
Incredible.
vToday I am very pleased to share with you our Annual Results for the 12 month period from 1 January 2021 to 31 December 2021.

While 2021 posed many challenges your Co-operative remains in a strong position.

Net profit after tax $51.5m (FY2020: $31.6m). A record result and one we are very proud of.
No debt. Cash and short-term deposits of $23.4m
Total Shareholder Equity of $369.0m (FY2020 $327.4m)
The Co-operative’s dividend received from Silver Fern Farms Limited $23.4m (FY2020 $13.1m)
Silver Fern Farms Co-operative declares a dividend and patronage reward for shareholders totalling $18.4m (FY2020 $8.0m)
A 100% imputed dividend of 12.9 cents per share payable to all ordinary and rebate shareholders
A 100% imputed patronage reward of 12.1 cents per share is payable on qualifying shares to supplying shareholders based on supply during 2021.
Your Co-operative’s investment Silver Fern Farms Limited has also announced its year-end result. In summary, Silver Fern Farms Limited delivered the following in 2021:

Net profit after tax $103.8m (FY2020: $65.4m)
Revenue $2,749.6m (FY2020: $2,490.1m)
Total Livestock Premium Payments in 2021 $6.9m (FY2020: $5.2m). Accumulative total premium payments now over $30 million.
Earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) including share of associate earnings $179.7m (FY2020: $125.7m)
A 100% imputed dividend declared in relation to FY2021 $46.7m (FY2020 $26.2m)
Increased investment in capital expenditure during 2021, up $8.0m from the previous year to $60.5m.
While 2021 posed many challenges, Silver Fern Farms has continued its transformative investment programme across the business. To continue to roll out this disciplined process in light of the global uncertainty that we currently find ourselves in - and deliver a record result at the same time - is truly remarkable and an outcome we can all be justifiably proud of.

The Co-operative Board’s focus through 2021 has been providing stability through a continued period of change and uncertainty, but also ensuring the operating company continues to increase investment in sustainability, technology, and infrastructure for the long-term benefit of shareholders.

Despite current strong farmgate prices for our suppliers, the paradox the country finds itself in currently is that farmer confidence is low due to the extent and pace of change they are confronted with. While it’s important the business continues passing through the value in the market at the moment, the Board is equally focused on converting our favourable financial position into longer-term confidence for our farmers. We’ll do this by continuing to invest directly in the business and developing more market-led premiums.

The last year saw some significant milestones in the company’s industry-leading sustainability programmes. Investment in initiatives such as Net Carbon Zero beef and in infrastructure such as the Marshalling Floor at Pacific reflect the core of our market-led strategy.

The work we are doing to reduce the environmental impact of our processing operations is just one of the ways we’re making sure we do the right thing by our customers and the wider community, who increasingly want to know that their red meat is sustainably and ethically produced. Our investment in coal-out projects, such as at our Pareora site, demonstrate that we’re on target to end all coal use in our operations by 2030.

While we still have some way to go yet, we’re confident that the direction we are travelling in will translate into higher returns for what we produce and a more positive outlook on the sector for our farmer suppliers.

Distribution of $18.4m declared

The Co-operative has declared a distribution of $18.4m in Dividends and Patronage Reward, marking the largest distribution in five consecutive years of distributions.

Shareholders, on the record date of 22 April 2022 will receive a fully imputed dividend of 12.9 cents per share payable to all ordinary and rebate shareholders.

A fully imputed Patronage Reward of 12.1 cents per share will be paid on qualifying shares to supplying shareholders based on supply during 2021 as measured on 31 December 2021.

The payment date for both distributions is 6 May 2022.


Annual Report

The Annual Report for 2021 will be available April 27 on www.silverfernfarms.coop

It will cover the financial result in more detail, as well as progress on our Co-operative strategy and an update from the operating company.