Fonterra posts rise in full year profit

New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative Fonterra reported a 13% increase in after-tax profit to NZ$771m ($631.22m) and a 19% increase in revenue to NZ$19.9bn ($16.29m) for the year ending 31 July 2011.

Fonterra CEO Andrew Ferrier said although the business was impacted by higher dairy ingredient prices and a fragile global economy, the company’s underlying profitability showed solid growth over last year due to improvements within the ingredients businesses and the strength of consumer brands.

Fonterra collected a record 1,346 million kg of milk solids in the 2011 season, 5% higher than the prior season, while dairy exports for the year totalled 2.1 million tons, another record for Fonterra.

The company said the results reflect an improved performance by Fonterra’s ingredients businesses that export to more than 100 markets as well as by overseas consumer businesses, especially across Asia and the Middle East.

Normalised earnings from Fonterra’s Standard & Premium Ingredients segment were 36% higher than the previous year, while revenue from the consumer businesses hit a new record of NZ$6.1bn ($4.99bn).

The co-operative announced a record payout to its 10,500 farmers, distributing about NZ$10.6bn ($8.67bn) from the NZ$8.25 ($6.75) /kg milk solids it was able to deliver for last season.