Silver Fern Farms is supplying a new range of lamb products
to the large United Kingdom supermarket retailer Tesco, and
expects to increase supply fourfold.
A suggestion that supplier workshops organised by Silver Fern
Farms contradict the ''openness and transparency'' that
farmers are demanding in the red-meat industry has been
strongly rejected by chief executive Keith Cooper.
Silver Fern Farms is investing about $1.4 million in an
energy management initiative that it says will deliver cost
savings of $700,000 a year within two years.
Silver Fern Farms has announced a net operating loss after
tax of $31.1 million from total revenue of $2 billion for the
year ended September, continuing the trend of poor but
well-signalled results from meat processors.
Silver Fern Farms is concerned water quality standards
proposed by the Otago Regional Council could force it to
close its century-old meat-processing plant near Balclutha.
Silver Fern Farms chief executive Keith Cooper has resigned
as a director of Beef and Lamb New Zealand and the New
Zealand Meat Board, questioning Beef and Lamb's future role
and relevance.
Silver Fern Farms has reported a remarkable turnaround in
fortunes, recording an operating surplus of $40.6 million for
the year ended September 30, on turnover of $2.1 billion -
from the previous year's $8 million loss on turnover of $1.8
billion.
