For the second year in a row, Ballance Agri-Nutrients fertiliser co-operative will not pay a rebate to its shareholders on products they bought during the FY24 financial year.
“Facing another year of headwinds for the co-operative and its shareholders, Ballance prioritised debt reduction and passing on price and cost savings to customers through the year,” chair Duncan Coull said.
“We moved a number of times to provide affordable nutrients to our shareholders, absorbing commodity price effects internally in order to do so,” he said.
Revenue was down a massive 24% to $929 million, reflecting lower commodity prices, and sales volumes were down 100,000 tonnes to 1.16 million tonnes.
A focus on reduced working capital saw a 37% decrease in year-end inventory, and, with the sale of Seales Winslow, enabled a $69m reduction in net debt.
The annual profit before tax was down to $17.2m, about half of the previous year, reflecting decreased margins as lower market prices were passed through to customers.
In his first year as Ballance chief executive, Kelvin Wickham said key priorities were improving operational efficiency while maintaining a strong focus on health and safety.
“We continued to invest in our assets with $69m of capital expenditure this year towards plant maintenance and upgrades to improve efficiency,” Wickham said.
“Alongside continued investment in health and safety, this meant there wasn’t a lot left over.
“We also had a focus on working capital and reduced inventory by 165,000t, down 37% from the prior year.”
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