Teys boss departing
Teys Australia's chief executive officer, Andrew MacPherson, is to leave the big beef processing business after 11 years in the job.
Prior to heading up the Teys-Cargill joint venture he was Cargill Beef Australia's managing director for 18 years.
He has worked in the beef industry for more than 30 years in commercial and strategy leadership roles.
Teys Australia executive chairman, Brad Teys, will assume the role of interim CEO and continue as chairman.
"Andrew has played an instrumental role in the development of our diversification strategy. We thank him for his significant contribution and wish him every success in future," Mr Teys said.
Mr MacPherson said the business had a bright future and he was very fortunate to have worked with Teys Australia's amazing people and customers during a significant period of evolution and growth.
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Costs pluck Ingham's profit
Net profit after for the first half of 2022-23 fell 55 per cent to $17.2 million for poultry meat giant, Ingham's, which blamed inflation and continued COVID-19 absenteeism for its troubles.
Despite a 9pc revenue rise, the cost of sales increased 11pc, with stockfeed costs up $58m on the same period in 2021-22.
While its first half year results were a significant improvement on the previous six months, they were down on the same period in 2021-22, although the company tipped continued sales support for poultry in inflationary times because it is cheaper than red meat.
Inflation was hurting on several fronts, with input costs such as feed, fuel and transport, packaging, and ingredients all rising.
"While it is clear the business is successfully transitioning from the various operational challenges experienced over the past 12 months, our farming operations are taking longer to return to normal levels, resulting in lower than required poultry volumes," said managing director, Andrew Reeves.
Ingham's had increased prices and was set to pass on further price increases, as required.
It declared an interim fully franked dividend of four cents a share, down from 6.5c 12 months ago.
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Big Beston revenue cuts loss
Seven year-old Adelaide-based dairy and meat processor, Beston Global Foods, is still to make a profit, but record revenue has helped prune its first half statutory net loss for 2022-23 to $2 million - down from about $8m for the same period last year.
Beston's group revenues - 90 per cent of which come from its dairy business - jumped 33pc on the same time in 2022 and were up 72pc on two years ago, thanks to higher prices for its mozzarella, cheddar cheese and record lactoferrin sales.
Revenue was tracking towards $180m for the full trading year after hitting $90.6m in the six months to December 31.
Statutory earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation in the first half were $2.1m, and gearing had reduced to 38pc after $16m in debt was repaid after November's $28m shareholder capital raising.
Beston reported its focus on premiumisation of its order book, improved productivity yields after upgrades at its Jervois and Murray Bridge plants, and an expanding product mix, were delivering results.
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Noumi earnings up, loss down
Dairy and plant-based beverage processor, Noumi, is tipping improved operational performance for the rest of 2022-23, although tighter macro economic conditions may erode consumer spending on products such as its flagship coffee culture ingredient, Milklab.
Noumi, which is rebuilding after its former entity, Freedom Foods, was broken up and renamed last year, posted a 5.5 per cent jump in first half year net revenue to $280 million, but a net loss after tax of $23.6m.
The loss was a 64pc improvement on the $65m for the same period last year for Noumi, which also produces the Australia's Own dairy and plant-based long life product range for local and overseas supermarkets.
Adjusted earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation were up 149pc from last year's $4.6m to $11.4m with plant-based beverages delivering higher margins and the dairy and nutritional business reducing its operating losses.
Noumi has adjusted its export strategy to rely on lower volumes to markets less exposed to inflation pressures which can absorb the company's increased milk purchase costs.
Locally, the company is banking on discretionary spending on coffee products not changing too much, even if customers do switch to more home consumption, rather than in cafes and restaurants.
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Illegal timber importers fined
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has fined 14 furniture importers more than $186,000 because they didn't act to minimise the risk of importing illegally harvested timber.
"We are enforcing our powers to help combat illegal logging which has been linked to organised crime, civil unrest, corruption, species extinction and environmental destruction around the world," said DAFF compliance and enforcement head, Peter Timson.
Australia had strict requirements for importing timber and it was essential to hold importers to account.
"Importers must understand where they are sourcing their timber from and to limit the risk of it being illegally harvested," he said.
The illegal trade could represent up to 10pc of timber products entering Australia.
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RLF Carbon start-up
Tech driven plant nutrition company, RLF AgTech has appointed Raj Aggarwal, an experienced leader in carbon advisory and trading to help develop its RLF Carbon business.
Crops grown with RLF plant nutrition products are claimed to reduce the need for chemical fertilisers by around 20 per cent, also delivering increased yields of up to 30pc and actively promote carbon sequestration in the soil.
Mr Aggarwal's advisory role will involve working with West Australian-based RLF AgTech and partners to develop the business model of RLF Carbon and assist with its implementation in order to generate Australian Carbon Credit Units (ACCUs) on a commercial scale in Australia and beyond.
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Freshcare board shuffle
Freshcare, Australia's largest provider of assurance programs for the fresh produce and wine grape industries, has two new directors on its board - Jane Lovell and Liz Riley.
Allan Dall, reappointed as a director for his 11th year, also takes over as chairman, while retiring chair, Belinda Hazell, continues her tenure as a director.
Mr Dall has more than two decades' experience in commercial, technical and finance roles.
Ms Lovell has more than 30 years' experience in the horticulture and agriculture sector including work with Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF), Food Standards Australia New Zealand and AgriFutures Australia, while Hunter Valley-based Ms Riley has 25-plus years of wine industry value chain background.
The industry-owned and governed Freshcare helps maintain Australia's reputation for producing safe, high quality, sustainable horticultural foods.
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