Page 35 - Food & Drink Business Nov-Dec 2019

DATA SOURCED FROM
ABBREVIATIONS O Overseas NL Non-listed P Publicly listed Pty Proprietary/private C Co-operative
SAPUTO DAIRY AUSTRALIA
▼ Revenue down
▲ Revenue up
9
REV UP/DOWN
TYPE
REV $M
PERIOD
PREVIOUS REV $M
AT THE HELM
▲
O Pty
2463
03/19
768
Lino Saputo
Saputo’s massive leap
SAPUTO Dairy Australia has jumped from its debut at 34 on the leader board last year to ninth position. It is a foreign-owned private company that produces, markets and distributes cheese, butter and butter blends, milk, cream and dairy ingredients locally and globally.
It had the highest revenue growth of any company in the Top 100 at 220.84 per cent following its $1 billion takeover of Murray Goulburn and Warrnambool Cheese & Butter (WCB), making
the company the largest dairy processor in Australia.
In April, Saputo and Lion
Dairy & Drinks announced their agreement for Saputo to acquire Lion’s speciality cheese business for $280 million on a cash-free and debt-free basis. It would see Saputo acquire Lion’s Tasmanian cheese processing plants, located in Burnie and King Island, as well as Lion’s cheese brands, including South Cape, King Island Dairy and Tasmanian Heritage, worth $192 million in revenue.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) raised concerns about market dominance and said the proposed acquisition would combine processing plants
of the second and third biggest buyers of raw
milk in Tasmania, which currently compete separately with the biggest buyer, Fonterra.
In September, however, the ACCC cleared the way for the deal, which was completed in October.
10
NESTLÉ AUSTRALIA
REV UP/DOWN
TYPE
REV $M
PERIOD
PREVIOUS REV $M
AT THE HELM
▲
OP
2270
12/18
2221
Sandra Martinez
Nestlé: new products and closures
THE Switzerland-based food and beverage manufacturer Nestlé Australia dropped two places this year with slightly lower earnings for the second year in a row. The company’s brands include Uncle Toby’s, Nespresso, Nescafé, Maggi, Allen’s and Purina.
In August, Nestlé announced the closure of its Tongala factory in far northern Victoria. The plant primarily produced tinned milk products. “People just don’t buy tinned milk like they used to,” GM Andrew McIver said. Cheap imports had also eroded the business.
Nestlé said it had tried to improve the viability of the
factory through new product ranges, adding Maggi culinary products from 2010, Nestlé Health Science medical nutrition products from 2012 and Milo Ready To Drink since 2017.
In other news, Nestlé’s long term collaboration with the National Oat Breeding Program through the South Australia Research and Development Institute resulted in a new variety of oat. It has high yielding potential, is disease resistant and has increased levels of beta glucan, which has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol.
The company also released its first range of lower sugar
confectionery through its Allen’s brand and a cane sugar free variety of Milo.
Its parent company announced a key milestone of 77 per cent
of its agricultural commodities verified as deforestation-free
as it moves towards its zero- deforestation commitment. It also announced a goal to achieve zero net greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and launched the Institute of Packaging Sciences. As a first-of- its-kind in the food industry, it aims to bring functional, safe and sustainable packaging solutions to the market and to address
the global challenge of plastic packaging waste.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | November-December 2019 | Food&Drink business | 35