Dairygold delivers €17.5m operating profits
DAIRYGOLD Co- Operative delivered a planned reduction in profit margin, supporting its milk and grain suppliers, including paying circa €25 million in Milk Price support
Dairygold, Ireland’s largest farmer owned dairy Co- Operative, has reported another solid financial performance for 2016, against a backdrop of very weak returns from international dairy markets, especially in the first half of the year.
Dairygold recorded turnover of €756.1 million (2015: €784.9 million), delivering an EBITDA of €39.0 million (2015: €41.2 million). The farmer owned Co- Operative achieved an operating profit of €17.5 million, (2015: €19.2 million), while increasing Milk Price support to its Members to circa €25 million, up from €20 million in 2015. At year end the net asset value of the business was €307.6 million (2015: €315.5 million), while bank debt was reduced by €7.5 million to a prudent €88.7 million.
Dairygold continued its ambitious capital programme during the year, investing a further €15 million in the business, bringing the total investment over the past six years to €200 million. This investment established a state of the art sustainable milk processing platform, across dairy sites at Mallow and Mitchelstown. The investment has increased processing capacity by 55% enabling farmer Members to fulfil their on-farm growth ambition.
Dairygold also strengthened its track record in building strong commercial partnerships with global food companies with the announcement of the planned development of the new Jarlsberg® Cheese production facility in partnership with Norway’s largest dairy processor Tine SA. This will quadruple the current Jarlsberg® Cheese production in Mogeely.
Speaking about the Mogeely investment, Dairygold Chief Executive, Jim Woulfe said: “Our commercial partnerships with global food companies have been an avenue to significant value add for the business. We will continue to seek out strategic partnerships with leading global organisations that can leverage our best in class processing facilities to deliver more value added production for the business.”