Page 40 - Food&Drink magazine November-December 2022

AUSTRALIA’S TOP 100 FOOD & DRINK COMPANIES 2022
SPONSORED BY
DATA SOURCED FROM
ABBREVIATIONS
O Overseas NL Non-listed P Publicly listed Pty Proprietary/private C Co-operative
BEGA CHEESE
Bega joins the Top 10
▼ Sales down ▲ Sales up
5
REV UP/DOWN
TYPE
REV $M
PERIOD
PREVIOUS REV $M
AT THE HELM
▲
P
3027
06/21
2179
Peter Findlay
6
BEGA crossed the $3 billion revenue line in FY22, moving seven places up the list to #6, but it wasn’t without pain. The direct cost of Covid was put at $40 million, with absenteeism sometimes exceeding 30 per cent along, temporary plant closures, higher health and safety expenditure, and ongoing supply chain disruption. That said, the company recorded 63 per cent revenue growth in branded products, reflecting the first full year of Bega Dairy and Drinks, which also now accounts for 82 per cent of revenue.
Bega Cheese Limited is a locally owned publicly listed company
that generates revenue from the processing and manufacturing of dairy and other food related products, which it distributes across Australia and exports to over 40 countries.
Peter Findlay was announced as the new CEO in October, following the resignation of Paul van Heerwaarden. Findlay joined Bega in 2019 as CFO and became chief operating officer this year.
Also in October, the company was taken by surprise, learning through an announcement on the Hong Kong stock exchange, that its Vitasoy Australia JV partner, Vitasoy International, intended to
acquire Bega’s share of the plant- based dairy business – and had Foreign Investment Review Board approval to do so. The JV was part of the Lion Dairy and Drinks sale agreement and gave Vita International “change of control” rights over Vitasoy Australia.
Vita subsequently offered $27.5 million for Bega’s 49 per cent share, which Bega rejected. Negotiations have been referred to an independent valuer.
The company is headquartered in Bega, New South Wales and employs around 3904 people. Bega Cheese Limited is listed on the ASX under the code BGA.
SAPUTO DAIRY AUSTRALIA
REV UP/DOWN
TYPE
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PERIOD
PREVIOUS REV $M
AT THE HELM
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OP
2764
03/22
2701
Lino Saputo
Rationalisations underway
SAPUTO Dairy Australia returned to #7 this year and maintained the position of Australia’s largest dairy processor. Saputo produces, markets, and distributes cheeses, butter and butter blends, milk and cream, as well as ingredients such as milk powder, whey protein concentrates and lactoferrin. Its brands are Cracker Barrel, Devondale, Great Ocean Road, King Island Dairy, Liddells, Mersey Valley, Mil Lel, South Cape, Sungold, Tasmanian
Heritage and Warrnambool Heritage Cheddars.
FY22 marked the start of Saputo’s new four-year Global Strategic Plan to reach Canadian $2.125 billion by the end of FY25.
In September, global CEO Lino Saputo said as part of the plan, the company would be looking to rationalise its Australian dairy factories as it had in Canada and the US. Saputo added that by the end of FY25 there would be fewer plants in the Australian and US networks with some “tweaking”
still to be
carried
out in
Canada and
the UK. A
month later
it announced
plans to close
its Maffra plant in
Victoria and parts of two
other plants. In June, it had closed the sliced cheese production component of its Cobram factory. It has plants in Kiewa, Cobram, Leongatha, Maffra, Allansford,
and Laverton in Victoria, Mil- Lel in South Australia, and
Burnie, Tasmania. The company
employs approximately
2890 people, operates in Australia, Japan and China, and is administered from its head office in Allansford, Victoria. Saputo’s ultimate parent company is Canada-based dairy producer Saputo Inc.
40 | Food&Drink business | November-December 2022 | www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au