The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

A2 Milk's supplier Synlait half year net profit drops 76%

Jamie Gray
By Jamie Gray
Business Reporter·NZ Herald·
29 Mar, 2021 04:23 AM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Synlait Milk expects to break even in the 2021 year. Photo / NZ Herald

Synlait Milk expects to break even in the 2021 year. Photo / NZ Herald

A2 Milk's sole infant formula supplier, Synlait Milk, said its half-year profit slumped by 76 per cent to $6.4m, driven by Covid-19 disruption, and said it expected to be "broadly breakeven" in the full year.

The full-year outlook has worsened since last December when the company said it expected the 2021 profit to be half that of the previous year's $75.2m.

Early this month Synlait withdrew that December guidance due to uncertainty and volatility within its business.

In today's result, Synlait's revenue gained 19 per cent to $664.2m while EBITDA fell 29 per cent to $47.7m.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Chair Graeme Milne said it was a challenging first half, "and we continue to find ourselves in a period of significant uncertainty and volatility as Synlait faces into several headwinds".

A2 Milk - Synlait's biggest customer - has been hit hard as Covid-19 has severely curtailed the important "daigou" unofficial trade channels into China.

Synlait said uncertainty was affecting its short-term operations and would impact on the full year's financial result.

Chief executive Leon Clement said the company's focus was on mitigating the impact Covid-19 has had its customers.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"We will need time to get through this, but we remain confident about our future," he said.

Synlait has been investing heavily in a bid to diversify its interests away from a2 Milk.

"Our investment phase is complete. We have the capacity, capability, and customer base to generate significant value," Clement said.

"Covid-19 hit us late, but we will emerge from the pandemic a stronger, more sustainable Synlait," he said.

Synlait signalled earlier this month that it was continuing to experience significant uncertainty and volatility within its business due to ongoing uncertainty in a2 Milk's expected demand for the remainder of 2021 and 2022.

"Synlait does not currently have sufficient confidence to forecast when this recovery will occur," Clement said.

"The resulting impact of this on Synlait's business is two-fold: demand for consumer-packaged infant formula remains uncertain, which in turn impacts forward infant base powder production and asset use."

Commenting on the ingredients business, Clement said the sudden drop in consumer-packaged infant formula demand, combined with rapidly rising Global Dairy Trade prices, foreign exchange, and a changing product mix, created volatility that limited returns.

Furthermore, Synlait said its expectation was that global shipping delays would continue and further impact the 2021.

Board and management have considered the above factors and how they will impact Synlait's 2021 profitability.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"There is still a range of scenarios contributing to the company's profitability, and our current outlook suggests a broadly breakeven FY21 net NPAT result," the company said.

While all banking covenant ratios were met during 2021, Synlait has "proactively engaged" with its banking syndicate to increase its leverage ratios to manage any risk at the end of 2021.

The 2021 business plan is fully funded by its current banking syndicate.

In its result, Synlait said consumer-packaged infant formula sales down 16 per cent to 18,085 tonnes.

Lactoferrin production gained up 16 per cent to 13.6 tonnes.

Dairyworks, which Synlait bought in 2019 for $112m, reported revenue of $112.6m.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Shares in Synlait Milk last traded at $3.41, down 14c or 3.9 per cent from Friday's close.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from The Country

The CountryUpdated

'I ditched everything': Fisherman swept 100m out to sea strips off to survive

29 Jun 03:00 AM
Opinion

Welcome to The Huntaway Inn - Glenn Dwight

28 Jun 05:06 PM
The Country

Bob's small but mighty berry business

28 Jun 05:05 PM

Kaibosh gets a clean-energy boost in the fight against food waste

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from The Country

'I ditched everything': Fisherman swept 100m out to sea strips off to survive

'I ditched everything': Fisherman swept 100m out to sea strips off to survive

29 Jun 03:00 AM

Lifejacket convert Bas Radcliffe says he pretty much ticked every box on what not to do.

Welcome to The Huntaway Inn - Glenn Dwight

Welcome to The Huntaway Inn - Glenn Dwight

28 Jun 05:06 PM
Bob's small but mighty berry business

Bob's small but mighty berry business

28 Jun 05:05 PM
Vege tips: Eggplant or aubergine, fruit or vegetable?

Vege tips: Eggplant or aubergine, fruit or vegetable?

28 Jun 05:00 PM
Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style
sponsored

Engage and explore one of the most remote places on Earth in comfort and style

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP