After suddenly cancelling plans to release its half-year trading results yesterday, Bega Cheese, remains in a share trading halt until Monday.
Bega shares on the Australian Securities Exchange slipped to $4.05 each at the close of trading midweek - down from around $4.50 on February 21.
The NSW-Victorian dairy and food processor requested the trading halt after management discovered a data error which subsequently delayed release of its half-year results until Monday.
However, it reaffirmed its previous full-year guidance of normalised earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation of between $95 million and $105m - down from last year's $115m.
Bega Cheese, also the name behind the famed spread, Vegemite, and Australia's biggest peanut butter business, said it did not expect the error to have any impact on its 2019-20 financial results.
It said prior to the final implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, data errors "resulted in a misstatement that may require a prior year adjustment" to its consolidated 2020 interim report.
It was working with its auditor to clarify the issue and anticipated the process would be completed by week's end to enable the release of the half year report.
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Drought-forced production shortages and soaring price competition for farmers' milk, plus reduced export sales for bulk cheese and powder products, forced Bega to issue two profit warnings in the first half of the 2019-20 trading year.
It expected a slide in full year earnings by as much as 17pc on 2018-19 figures.
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Andrew Marshall
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
Andrew Marshall is the group agribusiness writer for ACM's state agricultural weeklies and websites. He is a former editor at The Land and has worked in various Rural Press group roles in Canberra, North Richmond (NSW) and Toowoomba (Qld).
