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New Zealand's Synlait revives and posts profit
New Zealand dairy company Synlait is back in the black. Over the past half year (since September 2024), it has recorded a gross profit of €33,7 million and a net profit of €2,6 million.
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With a turnover of €489 million this may not seem very special, but Synlait was just over half a year ago on the point of deathIt was saddled with a large debt burden, embroiled in legal disputes and not doing well.
Shareholders' capital
Thanks to an arrangement with the two largest shareholders and a refinancing, it has temporarily recovered. The first step was the issue of new shares worth NZ 2018 million (€116 million) with, in particular, the main shareholder Bright dairy. This Chinese company thereby increased the percentage of shares to over 65%. Second shareholder A2 milk withdrew a claim and limited the share capital to just under 20%.
In addition, a new financing of €240 million was concluded with a banking consortium. As a result of this operation, the net debt could be reduced by almost 30% to the equivalent of €209 million. Suppliers returned and Synlait was able to perform better again.
Third largest in New Zealand
The privately owned company is the third largest dairy company in New Zealand with approximately 1 billion kilos of milk. It operates on the New Zealand South Island. FrieslandCampina had a limited shareholding in Synlait for a long time until 2017.