Ravensdown posts $95m group profit
CHRISTCHURCH: Fertiliser coop Ravensdown has announced an overall group profit of $95 million and an underlying profit of $68 million before tax this year.
Chairman Bruce Wills said it was ‘‘one of our best ever results’’ in a year dominated by volatile pricing and global supply challenges.
Total fertiliser sold was up slightly at 1.22 million tonnes, and revenue was up $210 million on last year to $922 million.
Mr Willis said this reflected the rising price environment that dominated the year.
The rapidly rising international prices made fertiliser hard to budget for farmers.
‘‘To help them, Ravensdown focused on product margins and yielded an FY22 group margin percentage lower than last year.’’
Ravensdown Shipping Services provided a $26 million boost to the group’s bottomline performance.
Chief executive Garry Diack said the coop had positioned its balance sheet for another challenging year in 2023 with $347 million of stock in store.
‘‘Our fundamental belief is that this cash is better in use onfarm than in our hands, and our marginbased pricing approach has proven this to be the case this year.’’
Given this year’s performance and next year’s challenges, a shareholder rebate of $25 per tonne has been declared, he said.
‘‘The need for a capital buffer for the increasing risk a cooperative structure faces compels a conservative approach to shareholder rebate for 2022.’’
Rebates are paid to shareholders who bought solid qualifying fertiliser products between June 1, 2021, and May 31, 2022.
Last week the Government announced a collaborative $22 million programme with Ravensdown to reduce farm emissions and nitrate leaching.
Ravensdown is leading the programme, called NVision NZ, and will contribute $11 million cash, with Lincoln University and Plant & Food Research providing research expertise.
‘‘We need to continue investment in technological support to reduce New Zealand’s fertiliser footprint,’’ Mr Diack said. — The Country