Quarterlytics / Consumer Cyclical / Packaged Foods / Fonterra

Fonterra

ftrrf · OTC Consumer Cyclical
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Ticker ftrrf
Exchange OTC
Sector Consumer Cyclical
Industry Packaged Foods
Employees 10,000+
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FY2016 Annual Report · Fonterra
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FONTERRA 
DAIRY FOR LIFE

ANNUAL REVIEW 2016
FONTERRA CO-OPERATIVE GROUP LIMITED

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

OUR  
CO-OPERATIVE

Our Co-operative’s strength comes from our common goal. 
Our job is to produce the best milk and secure the best returns, while 
maintaining our commitment to sustainability and our communities.

FONTERRA FARM SOURCE™ 
REWARDS AND BENEFITS

$30M 

FARMERS THAT CHECK 
THEIR MILK PICK-UPS DAILY 
WITH THE ON-FARM APP

63% 

$3.90

2015/16 SEASON 
FARMGATE 
MILK PRICE

1,566

M 
KGMS

NEW ZEALAND
MILK COLLECTION 
FOR THE 
2015/16 SEASON

40CPS

FINANCIAL 
YEAR 2016 
TOTAL DIVIDEND 
PER SHARE

CONTENTS

HIGHLIGHTS 

Chairman’s Letter 

Chief Executive Officer’s Letter 

OUR CO-OPERATIVE 

OUR POTENTIAL 

OUR PERFORMANCE 

Group Overview 

Ingredients 

Consumer and Foodservice 

China Farms 

Sustainability and Social Responsibility 

Corporate Governance 

Summary Financial Statements 

1

2

10

18

24

32

32

36

40

48

50

64

76

Fonterra uses several non-GAAP measures when discussing 
financial performance. Fonterra refers to normalised segment 
earnings, normalised EBIT, EBIT, EBITDA, constant currency 
variances, normalisation adjustments and payout when 
discussing financial performance. These are non-GAAP financial 
measures and are not prepared in accordance with NZ IFRS. 
Management believes that these measures provide useful 
information as they provide valuable insight on the underlying 
performance of the business. They are used internally to 
evaluate the underlying performance of business units and 
to analyse trends. These measures are not uniformly defined 
or utilised by all companies. Accordingly, these measures may 
not be comparable with similarly titled measures used by 
other companies. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be 
viewed in isolation nor considered as a substitute for measures 
reported in accordance with NZ IFRS. Please refer to page 98 
for the reconciliation of the NZ IFRS measures to the non-GAAP 
measures and page 99 for definitions of the non-GAAP measures 
used by Fonterra.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

OUR  
POTENTIAL

OUR 
PERFORMANCE

We are continuing to grow value by converting 
more of our farmers’ milk into higher-value 
products for customers around the world.

A strong result reflects both increased earnings 
from the execution of our strategy and strong 
financial discipline.

ADDITIONAL MILK CONVERTED 
INTO CONSUMER AND 
FOODSERVICE PRODUCTS

VOLUME INTO 
CONSUMER AND 
FOODSERVICE BY 2025

GROUP VOLUME

GROUP REVENUE

380

M 
LME

10B 

LME

23.7B 

LME

$17.2B 

We create value  
by delivering 
innovative ingredient 
solutions to meet our 
customer needs.

$1,358M 

GROUP 
NORMALISED 
EBIT 
(NZD)

Anchor™ is becoming 
more global in our 
consumer business and 
through Anchor Food 
Professionals in foodservice.

12.4%

Our research and 
development is ensuring 
our products offer the 
highest quality nutrition.

$834M

RETURN ON 
CAPITAL

NET PROFIT 
AFTER TAX 
(NZD)

HIGHLIGHTS    |   1 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM  
THE CHAIRMAN

The 2015/16 season has been 
incredibly difficult for our farmers, 
their families and our rural 
communities. Global dairy prices 
remained at unsustainably low 
levels and the New Zealand 
dollar stayed high. 

40CPS

DIVIDEND 
The full-year 
dividend of 40 cents 
per share is 15 cents 
higher than last year.  

OUR CO-OPERATIVE 
HAS RESPONDED.

WE CONTINUED 
WITH THE SIGNIFICANT 
AND NECESSARY 
CHANGES WE BEGAN 
IN THE BUSINESS OVER 
THREE YEARS AGO TO 
SUPPORT OUR STRATEGY 
AND PRIORITIES. 

The final phases of this were completed this year to 
ensure a strong Co-operative that can deliver every 
cent possible to our farmers, while supporting our 
younger farmers and sharemilkers through Farm 
Source™ supplies and service.

Our Farmgate Milk Price of $3.90 per kilogram of 
milk solids (kgMS) is a result of the low prices for 
milk that farmers globally have faced this year. The 
full-year dividend of 40 cents per share, 60 per cent 
higher than last year, delivers a final Cash Payout of 
$4.30 per kgMS to a 100 per cent shared up farmer. 
Total earnings per share are 51 cents, and the 40 cent 
dividend meets Board policy of 65–75 per cent of 
adjusted net profit after tax over time. This dividend 
has been paid while lowering debt by $1.6 billion, 
delivering a year-end gearing ratio of 44.3 per cent. 

The priority has been moving higher volumes of 
milk into higher-returning consumer and foodservice 
products while securing sustainable ingredients 
margins over the GlobalDairyTrade benchmarks, 
especially through speciality ingredient solutions 
and service offerings. 

2  |    LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

Expenses are down as we work to be more 
responsive to customer and consumer demand 
and build more flexibility into the business to 
respond to rapidly changing market requirements 
and opportunities. 

All this has been tough on our people, but we 
are now seeing the benefits not only in financial 
performance but in the feedback from the business 
and our customers. 

Normalised earnings before interest and tax were up 
by 39 per cent to $1.4 billion and net profit after tax 
was up 65 per cent to $834 million, a record result. 

Higher earnings and financial discipline supported 
a lift in our return on capital on a like-for-like 
basis from 8.9 per cent to 12.4 per cent. Our total 
return on capital, including equity-accounted 
investments, goodwill and brands has risen from 
6.9 per cent last year to 9.2 per cent. 

SUPPORTING OUR FARMERS
We have done what we can to support our farmers 
through a demanding season.

After an extraordinary fall in global dairy prices at 
the start of our financial year, we reacted with the 
decidedly co-operative step of providing our 
Fonterra Co-operative Support loan of 50 cents 
per kgMS for milk produced up to December 2015. 
This loan is interest-free until May 31, 2017 and 
repayable when the Farmgate Milk Price is over 
$6.00 per kgMS. The loan was taken up by 76 per 
cent of our shareholders and as at April 2016 the total 
amount advanced was $383 million. 

We brought forward the percentage paid in advance 
rate payments for milk, to support cash flows at 
the periods of highest financial demand on farms. 
We also brought forward dividend payments to 
support winter cash flows. Our farmer shareholders 
and unitholders received 20 cents per share paid 
after the interim result in April and two payments 
of 10 cents per share paid in June and September. 
These early dividend payments saw surplus 
cash generated by efficient working capital 
management, passed quickly through to farmers. 

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN  |   3  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM 
THE CHAIRMAN

LEANER BUSINESS
Our farmers have reduced 
costs and improved efficiencies 
and we have done the same.

Through our Farm Source™ stores we used our 
collective strength to lower the cost of farm supplies 
and to provide attractive trading terms. This provided 
a significant benefit to all farmers, in particular our 
younger farmers and sharemilkers. This has been 
supported by our change to a regional leadership 
model enabling our management to be more 
responsive to our farmers’ needs. 

Over the past two years there has been a significant 
adjustment in farm operating systems to reduce 
costs. From 2010 to 2015 we saw increased 
stocking rates, higher feed inputs and increased 
cost structures as farmers responded to higher milk 
prices. Farmers invested in improving farm assets, 
particularly in sustainability initiatives.

With prices falling, the 2015/16 season has seen 
lower stocking rates, and farmers optimising 
their pasture-based systems. DairyNZ calculates 
that average farm working expenses in 2016/17 
have dropped to $3.55 per kgMS, the lowest since 
2009/10. The break-even payout is $5.05 per kgMS 
for the average farmer in 2016/17 compared to 
$5.25 per kgMS for 2015/16 and $5.77 in 2014/15.

Together with Fonterra ensuring we have the 
most efficient manufacturing and logistics to get 
milk from farm to consumer, it is critical that our 

farmers maintain their low-cost, high-efficiency 
pastoral-based systems and that our Co-operative and 
our farmers are better at the basics than our global 
competitors. We have a real opportunity with many 
of our consumers increasingly favouring food which 
is produced as naturally and sustainably as possible. 

Milk from predominantly pasture-fed cows has 
nutritional advantages over milk from grain-fed 
herds, typically being richer in Omega-3 fatty acids. 
Our farmers’ herds graze freely outdoors, compared 
to their barn-housed counterparts in other parts of 
the world. Anchor™-branded products have been 
exported for more than 100 years, supported by 
images of well-fed cows grazing on lush pastures 
under clear skies.

The milk our farmers’ herds produce and the 
products made with it have many positive qualities, 
some that we have known for years as well as those 
recently uncovered. Our farmers have invested in 
highly sustainable systems and our Co-operative’s 
extraordinary innovation and efficiency in our 
manufacturing, food assurance and traceability 
systems, provides trusted dairy products to our 
consumers. We are unique in the world with this 
vertically integrated supply chain from outstanding 
pasture-based systems. We share this story 
confidently with customers and consumers. 

4   |   LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

FONTERRA 
MILK FOR 
SCHOOLS
Provides children with 
a 200ml carton of 
Anchor™ UHT milk, 
available at 1,455 
schools every day. 

HIGH  
QUALITY  
AND SAFE  
MILK
We have worked 
with farmers on raising 
environmental standards, 
as well as maintaining 
the standards which 
ensure high quality 
and safe milk. 

#431AM
We have started sharing this story at home with 
our #431AM campaign. Showing our farmers on 
their farms is a quiet reminder that while Fonterra 
might be significant globally, we are a predominantly 
family business. This family of more than 10,500 
farmer shareholders – whose days start well before 
dawn and who care about people, their communities 
and their land and herds – is supported in our local 
communities by our 11,400 New Zealand employees 
and their families and further afield by our 9,900 
employees located in other parts of the world.

PRODUCTION
New Zealand milk collection reached 1,566 million 
kgMS, three per cent lower than the previous season. 
This decrease was due to a change in farming systems, 
partially offset by an unusually wet summer across 
most dairying regions. North Island milk collection was 
954 million kgMS and South Island 613 million kgMS. 

OPEN TRADE SUPPORTS GROWTH
The long-term fundamentals for dairy remain 
strong. World population growth, emerging market 
demand and renewed recognition of the nutritious 
qualities of dairy across all markets are increasing 
demand. An open trade environment is now more 
important than ever. Yet our access to markets is 
significantly constrained, with 87 per cent of global 
consumers living in markets where we meet tariffs 
of greater than 10 per cent on our products. 

It is vital that the New Zealand Government brings 
renewed energy and commitment to its trade 
agenda. We must continue to develop New Zealand’s 
trade strategy capability in our current markets, 
as well as combating non-tariff barriers, develop 
new cross-border rules for e-commerce, and open 
up new markets such as Africa. The current rhetoric 
and actions towards protectionism by some of our 
trading partners is of significant concern, 
and has the potential to slow global growth. 

We strongly support every effort made by our 
Government to advance the trade agenda and we 
openly encourage more to be done, especially given 
the contribution of agriculture and dairy to our 
economy and to the health of rural communities 
here and globally.

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN  |   5  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

#431AM  
SHARING OUR STORY

Our 10,500 farmers produce trusted, 
natural dairy for New Zealanders 
and for the world. They’re proud of 
the Co-operative they own and their 
contribution to our country.

78%

OF NEW  
ZEALANDERS
are aware of the  
#431AM campaign1.

IT’S A GREAT STORY  
THAT WE SEE EVERY DAY,  
BUT THE REST OF NEW 
ZEALAND DOESN’T ALWAYS 
GET TO SEE IT OR HEAR 
ABOUT THE GOOD WORK 
THAT HAPPENS ON-FARM.
While New Zealand sleeps, some people are already 
at work – including our farmers. 4:31AM is a time our 
farmers know well, the start of the day for many of 
them as they rise for the first milking. #431AM is their 
voice, and the voice of other early risers, sharing their 
stories with New Zealand.

6   |   LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

1  Based on a Colmar Brunton poll.

GIVING  
FARMERS A 
VOICE TO  
SHARE THEIR  
STORY

#431AM is all about our farmers and our brand 
ambassador, Richie McCaw, having an important 
conversation with New Zealanders about our farmers’ 
contribution to the country and their care for the land  
and waterways. It recognises our world-leading  
innovation, support for communities and the hard  
work of our farming families and our people sharing  
New Zealand’s dairy with the world. 

Following the campaign’s launch in May 2016, we’ve 
continued to encourage our farmers and people to  
share their stories using  #431AM and they’re responding 
in droves. But it isn’t just our farmers and people who are 
on board, it’s bakers, nurses, transport operators, TV and 
radio hosts, Anchor™ franchisees, supermarket employees 
– anyone up in the early hours of the morning doing their 
bit for New Zealand, or wishing to support those of us 
who are up before the rest of the country wakes.

THOSE WHO GET UP FIRST,
TAKE ON THE WORLD FIRST.

JOIN THE FARMERS  OF  FONTERRA  ON   
FACEBOOK.COM/FONTERRA

#431AM

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM 
THE CHAIRMAN

HARD-WORKING
Our farmers prefer to keep 
a low profile, but this year 
we decided to put them in 
our #431AM campaign. 

GOVERNANCE AND 
REPRESENTATION REVIEW
Over the past 12 months, our Governance and 
Representation Review Committee has been working 
to evolve and improve our Co-operative’s unique 
Governance and Representation model.

Constantly improving Governance and 
Representation is critical to our success. We have 
ensured all shareholders have had an opportunity 
to have their say, with more than 500 meetings 
across New Zealand.

The key outcome of the review is a recommendation 
that is designed to consistently attract and then 
deliver the best-quality candidates for our Board 
and Council. Shareholders must be confident in their 
access to people with the attributes and diversity of 
skills and experience needed to lead an organisation 
of Fonterra’s scale.

Two Independent Expert Panels which reviewed the 
Governance and Representation recommendations 
endorsed them to our shareholders.

Ultimately, the mandate for change must come from 
our farmer shareholders. They will make a decision 
on the future of our Co-operative at a Special Meeting 
in October 2016. 

BOARD CHANGES
Post balance date, we announced the retirement of 
Independent Director, John Waller ONZM, who has 
been a valued member of the Board since 2009.

John chaired our Fair Value Share Review Committee, 
the Trading Among Farmers Due Diligence 
Committee and the Milk Price Panel, and was a 
member of the Audit and Finance Committee and 
the Risk Committee.

In each of those roles, and as a Director, he was 
outstanding, making an invaluable contribution by 
combining his strong personal values, drive and 
leadership with commercial common-sense. He has 
been a great friend to Fonterra, to the Board and 
to me as Chairman, providing wise counsel, careful 
analysis and energy. We will always be grateful to 
John for his contribution.

In November, Clinton Dines took up his appointment 
as an Independent Director. He brings international 
business and governance credentials to the Board, 
and a deep understanding of China where he lived 
and worked for more than three decades as a senior 
executive with BHP Billiton.

8   |   LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SOLID 
PERFORMANCE
We have become a 
stronger Co-operative – 
operationally, financially 
and in our mindset.

Ashley Waugh was welcomed to the Board in 
November when he was voted on as a Farmer 
Director. He joined with a strong track record in the 
dairy industry through 10 years of senior roles in the 
New Zealand Dairy Board and eight with National 
Foods, including four years as CEO.

We thank Blue Read who was elected to the Board 
in 2012 and who previously served as Chairman 
of the Shareholders’ Council from 2007 to 2010. 
Blue’s service to the Co-operative as a Councillor 
and then Director is much appreciated. His firm 
belief in the importance of a co-operative to farmers 
was always apparent.

A STRONGER CO-OPERATIVE
Our performance and our ability to support farmers 
this year, while significantly strengthening our 
balance sheet, is due to strict financial discipline in 
the business and a determined effort to shift more 
volumes of milk into higher-returning products. Our 
management team and all of our people deserve 
recognition for this, and their determination to see 
positive changes made quickly so that the benefits 
could be realised at pace for our farmers. 

After a three year period of deliberate and disciplined 
attention to the business, we have become a stronger 
Co-operative, operationally, financially and in our 
mindset with a clear sense of direction and a structure 
which will support real momentum in our strategy 
going forward. Pleasingly we are coming into a new 
financial year where prices are improving as the market 
rebalances, however we must and will continue with 
the same determination and discipline we have shown 
this year so that we keep delivering value for our 
farmers, our shareholders, and our communities. 

John Wilson
Chairman

LETTER FROM THE CHAIRMAN  |   9  

 
FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM THE  
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

This year, we’ve seen the strength 
of our Co-operative showing through. 
That strength comes from the work 
and direction since we set our strategy 
and secured our capital structure. 
We are starting to see that effort pay off.

12.4 RETURN ON 

financial discipline.%

CAPITAL
Increased return on 
capital through higher 
earnings and good 

WE KNEW WE WOULD 
FACE THE UPS AND 
DOWNS OF A VOLATILE 
MARKET THIS YEAR, JUST 
AS WE DID LAST YEAR.

WE KNEW FARMERS 
WOULD FACE A 
LOW MILK PRICE, 
SO WE KEPT THAT 
FRONT OF MIND, 
AND PUSHED HARDER 
ON STRATEGY SO 
WE WOULD COME 
OUT STRONGER.

10   |   LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Looking at our performance this year against our 
promises, we’ve done what we said we would do and, 
where we could, we have done more. It has been 
a team effort and it’s been hard going sometimes. 
We’ve put pressure on ourselves, setting ambitious 
goals for cost efficiencies and challenging all of our 
people to adapt how we work to better manage 
the shifts in the global market. I am proud of how 
the team has responded, because we have a Co-
operative set up for more growth, more progress on 
strategy and better returns for our farmers.

USEFUL FACT
More volumes of milk sold 
at higher value is at the heart 
of our strategy.

This is another low payout year because of weak 
dairy prices globally, so we owed our best efforts to 
our farmers. Our Farmgate Milk Price of $3.90 per 
kgMS and our 40 cent dividend combine to return 
$4.30 per kgMS to a fully shared up farmer as Cash 
Payout. In most cases, that’s below their breakeven 
point, so it was important for us to show how our 
Co-operative is behind them every day of the year 
and that we are keeping our promises.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

INCREASED VALUE FROM 
THE MILK WE PRODUCE
More volumes of milk sold at higher value is at the 
heart of our strategy. For our farmers, the promise 
is that we will make the most of their milk. We’re 
keeping that promise.

Every year, we convert more and more of our farmers’ 
milk into higher-returning products, through our 
ingredients solutions and consumer and foodservice 
business. The value of this strategy is measured not 
only in the Cash Payout, but also in growing the 
value of every dollar of capital our farmers have 
invested in us.

This starts in our ingredients business. Because of 
the money our farmers have invested in stainless 
steel we are in a stronger position to achieve higher 
yields through our optimised plants. We have 
more choices in what we do with their milk, and 
to generate the most value from it, we aim to shift 
as much volume as possible into higher-margin 
ingredients solutions. Our increased ingredients 
earnings this year show how we have matched 
production to the highest value customer demand 
while taking advantage of our reduced costs, 
especially at the peak of the season when we 
get the most milk.

Given low global prices, making the right choices 
was more important than ever. As much as possible, 
we switched production away from the powders and 
related product streams of butter and anhydrous 
milk fat (AMF) that make up the Farmgate Milk 
Price while margins for these products were lower. 
This allowed us to take advantage of a 24 per cent 
higher gross margin per tonne for the other products 
we make, offsetting the impact of an 18 per cent 
fall in margins on powders, butter and AMF. What 
this means is an overall lift in our ingredients gross 
margin of $300 million.

In consumer and foodservice, we converted an 
additional 380 million liquid milk equivalents (LME)  
into higher-returning products, increasing 
our total volumes in this business from 4.5 billion 
LME to 4.9 billion LME. 

Our aim is to have 10 billion LME in consumer and 
foodservice products by 2025. We are half-way 
there, building on the great work of the past two 
years where we converted an extra billion litres of 
milk into higher-returning products. Increasing our 
consumer and foodservice volumes, and especially 
our foodservice growth, meant we increased our 
normalised earnings before interest and tax in this 
business by 42 per cent to $580 million. 

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE  |   11  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM THE 
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

CREATING VALUE
We are creating value with 
local supply in other markets 
which is used to meet the 
needs of our customers.

Our results show how each part of the Co-operative 
is pulling together for our farmers this year. We were 
single-minded about transforming our business 
to get the best results we could, especially on 
the measure of how much value we create for 
our farmers. We’ve achieved our best-ever results 
by running the business well, improving all the 
fundamentals and thinking more like our farmer 
owners when it comes to cash. We cut our operating 
expenses, increased our free cash flow, reduced our 
working capital days, drove debt and gearing down, 
and reduced capital expenditure. 

All of this effort, combined with higher earnings 
and margins, meant our overall return on capital 
increased from 8.9 per cent to 12.4 per cent. 

Our ingredients return on capital was 13.4 per cent 
compared with last year’s 9.3 per cent. Our consumer 
and foodservice return on capital was 41.7 per cent. 
As farmers buy shares to match their milk production, 
the returns they get on those shares are important 
to them. This year, we achieved a dividend yield of 
7.3 per cent. If farmers have borrowed to fund share 
purchases, these returns should more than cover 
the costs of that borrowing. 

Our results show how our strategy is creating 
value for our farmer shareholders and unitholders. 
We are delivering on volume and value and driving 
for results more quickly. 

12   |   LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

THE FUTURE FOR DAIRY
The future for dairy remains positive because of 
forecast population growth, and demand growth 
in emerging markets. We are well-placed thanks to 
everyone’s hard work from the farm right through 
to our sales team. 

We have access to high-quality milk in New Zealand 
and all the new milk coming off farms is going 
directly into higher-returning products. We are 
creating value with local supply in other markets 
which is used to meet the needs of our customers. 
We have a world-class ingredients business. We are 
converting more volumes to higher-value products 
in our consumer and foodservice business. We have 
an integrated business in China, our biggest market, 
and we have a secure milk source through our 
increasingly efficient farms there. 

We have turned around our Australian business, 
as we said we would do, and we have in place all the 
building blocks to build on our strengths in cheese, 
whey and nutritionals and our market-leading brands 
in the butter and cheese categories.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

CHALLENGE 
BOUNDARIES
Disrupt is about tapping 
into the great ideas and 
energy of our people to 
stay two steps ahead.

TRANSFORMING THE WAY WE 
WORK AS TEAMS
To make a difference in the lives of two billion people 
by 2025 we need to be alert to what they want and 
be first to market with the answer. 

Increasingly, we operate in markets where things 
change constantly and how you respond can either 
blow you off course or carry you into the future. This 
reminds us of the need to go forward at pace. We 
know fast-moving markets need fast-moving thinkers 
who can spot consumer trends before they happen, 
so we are ready to go to market with clever products 
well before our competitors.

We have become our own disruptors, asking how 
consumers will interact with our products in two, 
five and 10 years and what their expectations will be. 
The next step is to find the best ideas and put them 
through an acceleration programme.

We tapped into the ideas of around 700 of our 
people across Australia, China and New Zealand 
as the first step in creating truly innovative dairy 
products and ventures.

This is about creating a compelling combination 
of innovative ideas and the right environment so 
we connect with consumers through fresh thinking 
and products that make the most of the goodness 
of dairy and our New Zealand origins, to generate 
more value for our farmers.

It is about keeping two steps ahead with e-commerce 
and business models that are changing how customers 
and consumers buy from us, and continuing to rapidly 
advance and evolve. We are using people across 
multiple functions and markets, making the most 
of our Co-operative value of challenging boundaries. 
This is about generating value faster through rapid 
innovation in dairy nutrition.

We are comfortable challenging boundaries in 
innovation because we have successfully done the 
same across the Co-operative over the past year as 
we have transformed the business. We have reduced 
working capital and debt, found ways to generate 
cash faster and generated more value for our farmer 
shareholders and unitholders. The results are a total 
Co-operative effort, with our people across the 
business collaborating on challenging and changing 
the way we work. This takes commitment and 
discipline, but we have shown we can develop and 
implement transforming ideas at speed, and create 
more value through delivering our strategy. 

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE  |   13  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM THE 
CHIEF EXECUTIVE

FOOD SAFETY 
AND  QUALITY
Throughout our  
supply chain, we  
record ingredients  
and packaging 
information used in 
manufacture, enabling 
us to obtain history, 
location and status  
of specific batches.

OUR STORY
Our strength lies 
in the fact we are 
a business owned 
and controlled by 
our farmers.

SHARING OUR STORY
Our strategy sets out how we will make a difference 
in the lives of two billion people by 2025. Since 
developing it we have had our heads down putting 
everything in place so we can make it a reality. 

The Co-operative that started out in 2001 is 
not the Co-operative we have today in terms of 
revenue, assets, results and attitude. We’ve changed 
for the better and we keep changing as market 
expectations increase. Our farmers have made real 
and measurable progress in making their farms more 
sustainable through fencing, protecting waterways, 
effluent and nutrient management, and paying even 
more attention to animal welfare and milk quality. 
We take the same care across all of our sites, using 
resources like water and energy responsibly and 
looking after our employees in our health and safety 
programmes. 

Our strong food safety and quality framework is 
now even stronger as we work towards world-class 
standards in traceability. We have invested in new 
plant, in innovation and in our people. We’ve kept 
our promise to share great dairy nutrition with our 
communities through Fonterra Milk for Schools, 
and through our Fonterra Grass Roots Fund and 
our Living Water partnership, we are looking after 
local communities and the environment.

As a large New Zealand company, it’s important we 
share our story. In the long run, when communities 
understand that we’re doing what’s right, that we have 
the same concerns as they do about the environment, 
that we can be trusted to produce great products 
responsibly, and that our success contributes to 
New Zealand’s success, we will all be better off.

We know trust is earned. When I look back at all the 
effort we’ve made over the past five years or so I 
think we can say we’re earning it. We’re not perfect 
and would never claim that, but we’re very proud of 
what we do, who we are and our values, as well as 
the fact that we keep trying to be better every day.

OUR GREAT TEAM
We’ve come to the end of a demanding, but 
rewarding year. Our leadership team has been a real 
source of strength to me and set a great example 
for all of our people. They’ve encouraged the 
performance we achieved.

We have made the team stronger with changes to 
better support our goals of value creation and 
strong performance. The most significant leadership 
changes were the newly created Global Consumer 
and Foodservice business unit led by Jacqueline Chow, 
Judith Swales’ appointment to Chief Operating Officer 
Velocity and Innovation and Miles Hurrell heading 
up Farm Source, formerly Co-operative Affairs. 

14   |   LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

These changes mirror others made to the business 
structure so we can make even faster progress on 
our strategy.

I want to thank all of our people. We’ve asked a 
great deal from them this year and, in many cases, 
reorganisation of the business meant considerable 
change. Change is never easy, so I very much 
appreciated the fact that all of our people put 
our shareholders first and ensured we kept our 
promises on performance.

I want to also thank our farmer shareholders. 
Everything we do starts with your milk and the 
care you take. 

We have hard-working, efficient and innovative 
farmers and it is not surprising that other processors 
would like their supply. We’re proud that our 
shareholders continue to put their trust in us 
and I can promise that we are all determined 
to live up to that.

OUTLOOK
We announced in August a forecast Farmgate Milk 
Price of $4.75 per kgMS and a forecast total payout 
available to farmers in the 2016/17 season of $5.25 
to $5.35 before retentions. This includes our forecast 
earnings per share range of 50 to 60 cents.

Our higher forecast earnings per share range reflects 
the performance improvements we intend to keep 
making across the business, building on last year’s 
hard work and results. 

Throughout the dairy pricing downturn, we have 
made every effort to generate the best returns for 
our shareholders that we can, both at the farm gate 
and through the dividend. There are good signs of 
a recovery and our forecast reflects that, but we 
have no intention of relaxing our focus on producing 
quality results from a high-quality product and 
sharing our dairy’s trusted goodness with the world. 
We will continue to make improvements. 
Our commitment is always to seek feedback, to 
listen and to get better at what we do. We have big 
ambitions and we’re determined to achieve them, 
generating increased value on our shareholders’ 
investment in us.

Theo Spierings
Chief Executive

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE  |   15  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SHARING OUR DAIRY’S 
TRUSTED GOODNESS 
WITH THE WORLD

Over many years, Fonterra has played 
a big part in building the image of 
New Zealand. Our Fonterra brand 
and our nutritious and delicious 
consumer and customer brands 
are already closely associated with 
New Zealand’s great, pure image.

OUR FARMERS MAKE THE 
MOST OF NEW ZEALAND’S 
ENVIRONMENT.
THEY’RE ACKNOWLEDGED  
AS AMONG THE BEST IN  
THE WORLD AND LEAD  
WITH INNOVATION AND  
BEST PRACTICE. 

Their hard work over generations in practising 
good environmental stewardship, upholding high 
standards of animal welfare and commitment to 
the strictest standards of milk quality, means we 
can turn our natural advantages and farmer efforts 
into solid returns by getting a premium for our 
higher-value products.  

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LETTER FROM THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE  |   17  

PURE  
NEW ZEALAND  
DAIRY

More and more, global consumers want 
to know where their food comes from and 
who produces it. They want to know that 
their food has been produced in a socially 
and environmentally responsible way, 
and that it is high quality, safe, healthy 
and from a trusted source.

Our farmers and our people have an 
incredible story to share with customers 
and consumers wherever they are in 
the world. One that talks about their 
commitment to our pasture-based  
system, animal welfare, sustainable 
 farming practices, caring for the 
environment, and world-class food  
safety and quality systems.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

STRENGTH 
IN NUMBERS 

Our Co-operative’s strength lies in 
the fact we are a business owned 
and controlled by our farmers, with 
a common goal to produce the best 
milk and secure the best returns in 
our global markets.

OUR PRIORITY IS TO TAKE 
CARE OF OUR FARMER 
OWNERS AND THIS YEAR 
WE’VE SUPPORTED THEM 
IN MANAGING THE DROP 
IN INCOME THAT HAS 
FOLLOWED SUSTAINED 
LOW DAIRY PRICES. 

Our Farm Source™ Support Package, 
our Fonterra Co-operative Support 
loan and advancing dividend 
payments to help over the winter 
months when cashflow is tight, 
are good examples of how we are 
working alongside our farmers 
during this time. 

18  |  OUR CO-OPERATIVE

Farm Source™ works to help bring costs down 
for our farmers, using our collective strength to 
secure competitive pricing from vendors and to 
pass discounts on for core farming needs. We add 
to these savings with our Farm Source™ Rewards 
Dollars, with FS$10.5 million earned last year.

FARM SOURCE™ FARMER 
SUPPORT PACKAGE
In May, Farm Source™ rolled out a support package 
offering a mixture of discounts of up to 30 per cent 
off and bonus Rewards Dollar offers on products that 
our farmers need the most. It included six months 
interest-free deferred terms.

WELL-CONNECTED 
CO-OPERATIVE

Our regional network is coming 
into its own, giving farmers 
regular contact in their local 
region. This season, for example, 
our area managers had more 
than 22,000 points of contact 
with shareholders. 

In addition, we stay close to 
farmers through our regional 
sustainable dairying and food 
safety and quality teams.

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

ALL TOGETHER, 
STRONGER

Co-operatives are about collective 
strength. From day one, we have used 
our size and scale to create an efficient 
end-to-end dairy manufacturing and 
supply chain to capture returns from 
the global market for our farmers.

COMMITMENT
In the communities 
where we live, work 
and farm, we have a 
responsibility to nourish, 
care and protect.

OUR OPERATIONS 
BEYOND THE FARM GATE 
ARE AN EXTENSION 
OF OUR FARMERS’ 
BUSINESS, COLLECTING 
AND PROCESSING THEIR 
MILK AS EFFECTIVELY 
AS POSSIBLE AND 
GETTING IT TO MARKET, 
WHILE AT THE SAME 
TIME MOVING MORE OF 
THEIR MILK INTO HIGHER-
RETURNING PRODUCTS.

We have pioneered transparency in global dairy pricing 
to give our farmers signals on prices, as well as our 
dividend forecast, so they can make the most informed 
budget and production decisions.

We’re on track with our strategy and, as our results 
show, it’s creating value. 

We will stay on course to maintain our position and 
that will require continued discipline and capable 
management. We will be able to take advantage of the 
turn in global pricing because of the hard work that has 
been done over the years, and especially since 2012. 

However, we do not operate in isolation. We’re part 
of a wider community, which not only includes our 
farmers and their families but also New Zealanders and 
the people from the countries in which we operate.

Our commitment is to take care for both today’s 
and for future generations. We are committed to 
responsible dairying, including the use of all the 
resources we rely on, and we aim for dairy excellence 
every day.  We are making sure that our food is safe 
and of high-quality. That’s our Co-operative way. 

On pages 50 to 63 of this report, we provide full details 
on our sustainability and social responsibility activities, 
but here are some highlights.

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

DAIRY BENEFITS
Our Fonterra Milk for 
Schools programme 
delivers free nutritious 
milk to primary school 
students every school day.

NURTURING NUTRITION

CARE IN OUR CO-OPERATIVE

Fonterra Milk for Schools benefits
Our Fonterra Milk for Schools programme is our way 
of sharing dairy’s benefits with young New Zealanders. 

In July 2013, we set up a study with the University of 
Auckland’s National Institute of Health Innovation 
to assess the impact of Fonterra Milk for Schools on 
dairy consumption, general health indicators, and 
attitudes to nutrition from participating children. 
After two years, the conclusions are positive:

 > There was a significant increase in the proportion 
of children achieving the dietary guidelines for 
dairy consumption every day.

 > 93 per cent of children achieved the dietary 

guidelines on weekdays.

 > 96 per cent of the children liked the taste of 

the milk.

 > 72 per cent of parents surveyed considered the 
programme to have a positive impact on their 
children’s health.

Regenerating waterways
Each year, we make progress on excluding stock 
from waterways. By the end of May 2016, 97.4 per 
cent of defined waterways on mapped Fonterra 
farms were stock-excluded. To get there has taken 
24,410 kilometres of fencing. Excluding stock from 
waterways is important, but add riparian planting 
and you have a greater contribution to water quality. 

CLEAN WATERWAYS
Stock exclusions and riparian 
planting by our farmers helps 
to improve water quality. 

Planting more than 24,000 kilometres of banks is no 
small job, so it pays to have a plan. Our Sustainable 
Dairying Advisors help farmers using software and GPS 
mapping of farm waterways to plan and track planting, 
and other activities. We’re working towards all farmers 
having a riparian management plan by 2020.

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

OUR 
CO-OPERATIVE

BIODIESEL
We’re switching 
our 500 tankers 
to Z Biodiesel for 
greater efficiency 
and sustainability.

New PKE standard
We have listened to community concerns around the 
role of palm products, including palm kernel expeller 
(PKE), and have adopted a new sourcing standard, 
developed in consultation with key supply partners 
and following discussions with Greenpeace.

The standard commits Fonterra to purchasing only 
segregated palm oil, and for our suppliers to have plans 
in place for full traceability to plantation for palm oil 
and palm kernel extract by 2018. 

Award-winning tanker safety
Our 500 tankers collect milk from our farms and deliver 
to our 31 manufacturing sites around New Zealand.

Keeping our tanker operators safe is always a priority 
and driver fatigue is a threat to that safety. We’ve 
introduced a Fatigue Risk Assessment Tool to identify 
driver fatigue exposure across our milk collection 
depots and drivers. 

Fatigue-proofing strategies, such as restricted runs and 
self-selected breaks are in place and at-risk individuals 
are supported. This initiative has won a national health 
and safety award. We are proud of this award but 
we are still working hard to improve our approach. 
This includes trialling auto-sensing technology that 
identifies drivers by facial recognition, monitors their 
shift and will shake their seat and sound an alarm if 
they close their eyes for more than 1.5 seconds. 

Results can be a real incentive. Near Te Waihora, in 
Canterbury, for example, we have shareholders who 
have put 15 years into protecting native vegetation, 
fencing off waterways and forming their own native 
wetland on-farm. It’s now a thriving sanctuary for 
native fish, birds and plants, and a research ground 
for the University of Canterbury’s Freshwater Ecology 
Research Group, CAREX.

Our nitrogen-recording programme also underlines 
the benefit of a plan. Nitrogen is essential for plant 
growth. Without it, we’d have poor pastures, slow 
crop growth and below-par nutrition for animals. 
Nitrogen behaviour is also complex, but must be 
understood so farmers can manage nitrogen for 
maximum profitability and minimum environmental 
impact. Our farmers are working towards nitrogen loss 
commitments under the Sustainable Dairying: Water 
Accord, and making good progress.

This year, 86 per cent of farmers submitted their 
nitrogen data pages so we could prepare reports to 
measure their nitrogen efficiency use. This enables 
farmers to benchmark their use against other farms 
in the region and then prioritise what they can do 
on-farm to make improvements.

22   |   OUR  CO-OPERATIVE

FONTERRA 
GRASS ROOTS
FUND
The Fonterra Grass 
Roots Fund supports 
initiatives that enrich 
people’s lives and 
make a real impact in 
the community.

SAFE PRODUCTS
We have introduced 
covert anti-counterfeiting 
technology across much 
of our consumer-ready 
packaging.

Global food defence 
We continue to build our food traceability capabilities, 
including an automated system to help us track 
the batch history of all ingredients and packaging 
efficiently and accurately across our supply chain.

At our Canpac site, we’re developing a new world-
leading approach to product authentication which will 
allow customers across the world to access product 
confirmation and origin details at the point of sale, 
using their mobile phone. This capability will be 
launched next year.

To defend against criminal activity, we have 
introduced covert anti-counterfeiting technology 
across much of our consumer-ready packaging and 
we will continue to extend this.

CARE IN THE COMMUNITY

Living Water
Living Water is our 10 year, $20 million partnership 
with the Department of Conservation. Together with 
_
our farmers, we work with iwi, hapu
, community groups 
and key stakeholders to improve the abundance and 
variety of native wildlife and water quality.

We’re focused on five sensitive catchments where dairy 
farming exists: the Waikato Peat Lakes catchment, 
Kaipara Harbour’s Hikurangi catchment, TI-kapa Moana 
_
korokoro/Miranda catchment, 
(Firth of Thames) Pu
Te Waihora (Lake Ellesmere) in Canterbury focusing 
on the Ararira/LII catchment, and Awarua-Waituna in 
Southland focusing on the Waituna catchment.

From little things, big things grow
Great pasture is the basis of our business and we know 
how important it is to feed the roots to achieve the 
growth that keeps our cows well-fed and productive.

We take a similar approach in our communities with 
our Fonterra Grass Roots Fund. Sometimes all a local 
initiative needs is a sprinkling of ‘fertiliser’ by way of 
funding to grow into a safer community, a healthier 
environment or a better-connected district. 

We help community groups in New Zealand, Australia 
and Sri Lanka by providing grants to support local 
initiatives. While these may be simple, such as calf 
club days, or vital, such as equipment for volunteer 
fire brigades, we’re making a difference by bringing 
communities together in a good cause.

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

OUR  
GLOBAL  
BRAND FAMILY

We have a portfolio of well-known 
global brands from Anchor™ to Anmum™ 
and Anlene,™ together with NZMP™ 
and Farm Source.™ These brands 
draw on our trusted processes and 
quality, and build a connection and 
understanding of Fonterra as the 
natural source of goodness. 

ANCHOR™ 
AUSTRALIA
In an Australian 
first, microfiltration 
technology prolongs 
shelf-life of our milk.

Our most widely known and loved brand, Anchor™’s 
taste and goodness is born out of New Zealand’s 
green pastures. Anchor™ is renowned for its 
high-quality, innovative range of products, which meet 
the needs and tastes of consumers around the world.

Highlights this year include:

•   In Australia, since launching, Anchor™ milk has 
continued to build strong momentum in both 
volume and market share.

•   In Ethiopia we launched Anchor™ Fortified Milk 

Drink, with Anchor™ now the number two powder 
brand in Ethiopia, which has a population of close 
to 100 million people.

•    In Sri Lanka we launched Anchor™ Liquid Milk, 

growing our range by offering family-sized UHT milk. 
Anchor™ Newdale Yoghurt continues to set new 
sales records and Anchor™ Newdale kids flavoured 
milk delivered strong volume growth.

Anlene™ is designed for healthy ageing and offers 
consumers the benefit of bone strength and improved 
movement. This is driven by the growing ageing 
population who want to live longer, healthier and 
active lives, as well as the declining relevance of bone 
health as a single benefit.

Highlights this year include:

•   In Malaysia we launched our new Anlene™ with 
MoveMax™, a fortified milk drink that contains a 
bundle of important nutrients to support bones, 
joints and muscles for optimal movement. 

•   Anlene™ with MoveMax™ will be launched in  

Hong Kong, Indonesia and Vietnam later this year.

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

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ANMUM™
LAUNCHES IN 
NEW ZEALAND

Our internationally established maternal 
and paediatric nutrition brand, Anmum™, 
draws on Fonterra and its legacy 
companies’ 50-plus years of experience in 
dairy research and in producing paediatric 
formulas for third parties. 

Anmum™ is available across Asia, including 
China, Indonesia and Malaysia, offering 
products for pregnancy, lactation and 
infancy through to toddlerhood. 

For Anmum™ to be strong globally, 
it must be strong at home so now 
we’re proudly making Anmum™ for 
our little New Zealanders, providing 
paediatric nutrition for key life stages. 
Our Anmum™ PediaPro toddler milk 
has no added sugars – only lactose, 
the sugar naturally present in milk. 

Five months after its launch in 
New Zealand,  Anmum™ had driven 
more than 81 per cent brand awareness.

 
FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

OUR 
POTENTIAL

Every morning, our farmers walk 
their cows to the milking sheds in the 
dawn, the lights go on and thousands 
of litres of pure New Zealand milk 
are pumped into stainless steel vats 
across the country. This is the 
lifeblood of our Co-operative.

INCREASED 
DEMAND
There is a consistent 
pattern of population and 
GDP growth supporting 
growth in dairy.

OUR JOB IS STRAIGHT 
FORWARD, TO GENERATE 
THE MOST VALUE FROM 
THIS MILK.

WE COLLECT, PROCESS, 
PACKAGE, DISTRIBUTE 
AND SELL IT AROUND THE 
WORLD. EVERY DAY, WE SET 
OUT TO GROW FARMERS’ 
WEALTH THROUGH OUR 
RETURNS ON THEIR MILK, 
THE DIVIDEND ON THEIR 
SHARES AND THE VALUE 
OF THEIR INVESTMENT 
IN OUR CO-OPERATIVE.

CAPTURING MORE DEMAND
Growing populations and their need for healthy, nutritious 
and good-tasting dairy foods are fuelling demand for 
our milk. We are making sure we are capturing more of 
this demand for our farmers by turning more of their milk 
into higher-returning products, and doing it quickly. 
We currently convert almost five billion LME of our milk 
to higher-returning consumer and foodservice products 
and we aim to double that to 10 billion LME by 2025.

Our ingredients return on capital was 13.4 per cent 
compared with last year’s 9.3 per cent. Our consumer 
and foodservice return on capital was 41.7 per cent, a big 
increase on last year’s return on capital of 25.5 per cent.

SEIZING THE OPPORTUNITIES
To capture more of the growing demand for nutritious 
dairy food, we must provide the products and solutions 
that consumers and customers want. We must also 
meet demand for volume. With all new milk production in 
New Zealand going into higher-returning products, we are 
supplementing our New Zealand milk with internationally 
sourced milk when it makes financial and strategic sense 
to do this and generates value for our shareholders. 

26   |   OUR POTENTIAL

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

PRODUCTS 
AND SOLUTIONS
We produce dairy 
products that have 
relevance to our customers’ 
and consumers’ lives.

We are growing our milk supply from 25 billion litres to 
30 billion litres, and our ambition is to be the number one 
ingredients supplier in the world. We are aiming to 
have leading positions in key categories in our eight 
strategic consumer and foodservice markets of New Zealand, 
Australia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Chile, China, Indonesia 
and Brazil.

By achieving this, we aim to be a $35 billion business 
making a positive difference to the lives of two billion 
people by 2025. 

We have built a strong Co-operative as the foundation, 
so we know we can reach our targets.

HOW’S PROGRESS?
We’re succeeding because we’re all pulling in one direction 
to make our goals real. We’re making the best products to 
the best of our abilities. We’re working as effectively and 
efficiently as possible, and we set and meet high standards 
in everything we do. This is how we’re getting ahead of the 
competition and it will ensure we stay ahead.

Our ingredients business is delivering the products and 
solutions our customers want. That includes everything 
from the basics, like skim milk powder, to the customised 
ingredients solutions our customers use to set their products 
apart. This is how we will be number one in ingredients. 

We had another strong year in ingredients, with growth of 
24 per cent in normalised earnings before interest and tax.

Our consumer and foodservice business looks after two 
quite different groups of people. 

Our consumer brands meet the growing demand for 
dairy products for all ages and stages of life, from infancy 
through to old age.

In consumer, we’ve already secured leadership positions in 
key dairy categories in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, 
Sri Lanka and Chile. We are on track to do the same in 
China, Brazil and Indonesia.

Our foodservice products capitalise on the fact that 
people are eating out more and there’s an entire sector 
serving their needs, from the quick service restaurants to 
hotels, airports and cafés. We’ve always believed in the 
potential of the foodservice sector and our faith is being 
rewarded. The growth we’ve achieved makes us confident 
we will grow it into a $5 billion business by 2023.

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OUR 
POTENTIAL

19%

INGREDIENTS
Our total ingredients 
gross margin rose 
19 per cent to 
$1,862 million.

MORE CHEESE
This year, we made 
more higher-value 
products, like cheese 
and casein.

NUMBER ONE IN INGREDIENTS
We talk a lot about making the most of our farmers’ milk. 
We achieve this by making the products most in demand 
and selling them for prices above the benchmarks achieved 
on GlobalDairyTrade (GDT) events.

This year, for example, we made nine per cent more 
higher-value products like cheese and casein and had lower 
volumes of products like milk powders – down seven per 
cent. Our gross margin per tonne on these higher-value 
products rose 24 per cent to $1,348 per tonne as a result. 

In the ideal world, we would only make the highest-
returning products. But we don’t live in an ideal world 
and we still need to make a full range of ingredients from 
the milk we collect, especially when farms are in peak 
production. That range includes the powders and related 
products like butter and anhydrous milk fat that form the 
basis of the Farmgate Milk Price paid to our farmers.

To ensure we still get the best returns, our global sales 
team knows they have to sell products for more than the 
GDT benchmarks. This year, around 20 per cent of our total 
23.7 billion LME was sold on the GDT platform. Our total 
ingredients gross margin rose 19 per cent to $1,862 million.

KEY INVESTMENT
Since 2012, we’ve invested 
$1.5 billion in increasing our 
manufacturing capacity 
in New Zealand.

It sounds simple, but it takes a highly efficient and flexible 
ingredients producer to do this at scale. We’ve achieved that 
position. Since 2012, we’ve invested $1.5 billion in increasing 
our manufacturing capacity in New Zealand. This means 
we have more flexibility around the products we make 
and we can switch production to those making the best 
returns. New plants have contributed to gains in efficiency, 
better yields and improved quality performance. Our higher 
ingredients’ earnings this year show how we are matching 
production to the highest value customer demand and 
how we are creating value through ingredients solutions 
for those customers. 

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

RIGHT PRODUCTS
We want our children to 
be energetic and active and, 
as we get older, we want 
to stay mobile and well, 
so we look for products 
that support our lifestyle.

GIVING CONSUMERS WHAT 
THEY WANT
We all buy by brand and there are various influences on 
why we choose one product over another. Trust is a big 
factor, because as consumers we want a product that does 
what it says it will do. When it comes to dairy products, 
many of those expectations relate to health. 

THINKING AHEAD
We are thinking ahead, bringing 
new products to market today while 
anticipating future consumer trends 
and how we can meet them through 
more innovation.

We’re meeting those needs and doing it with our three 
global brands, as well as our regional favourites. We 
have years of experience and knowledge to draw on, 
such as unlocking and validating the different nutritional 
benefits of milk. This enables us to develop products 
aligned to specific consumer needs, including the basics, 
such as good energy levels and nutrition for growth and 
development, through to healthy ageing.

We’re using our expertise to set our brands apart, using 
our intellectual property, including the work of the 
Fonterra Research and Development Centre, to bring 
new products to market. This year, we moved 380 million 
LME into higher-value consumer and foodservice 
products in Greater China, Oceania, Asia and Latin 
America. That is an eight per cent increase in volumes.

Our Anmum™ brand regained its leading position in 
Hong Kong and, through our partnership with Beingmate, 
appeared on the shelves in 170 cities in China compared 
with 60 last year. We’re also now proudly making 
Anmum™ for our little New Zealanders, providing 
paediatric nutrition for all key life stages. In Sri Lanka, 
where we lead the market, we achieved volume and value 
growth across all categories including, Anchor™ milk 
powder and Anchor™ UHT.

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OUR 
POTENTIAL

BACKING 
FOODSERVICE
Our confidence comes from the 
way we do business, because 
that’s just as important as the 
products we make.

DELIVER ON FOODSERVICE POTENTIAL
We’ve always backed foodservice as a winner. Each year, we 
are proven to be right.

This confidence comes from the way we do business, 
because that’s just as important as the products we 
make. We don’t just sell products. We sell our foodservice 
customers the prospects of a more profitable business using 
our products, solutions and often our recipes. We show 
them how to make the most of dairy and how they can 
make more money, especially in Asian markets less familiar 
with products like cream cheese. We have developed three 
key channels to market: Asian bakery, Italian kitchen and 
Western quick service restaurants (QSR).

ADDING VALUE
We sell our foodservice customers 
the prospects of a more profitable 
business using our products, solutions 
and often our recipes.

To each, we bring on-the-ground chef support, clear value 
propositions that use our products to make our customers 
more profitable, and insights into consumer trends and 
how we can help our customers benefit from them.

We formulate especially for commercial kitchens under 
Anchor Food Professionals. This includes Anchor™ UHT 
cream, which eliminates the splitting that causes waste and 
reduces margins, and our Anchor™ UHT whipping cream, 
which maintains its texture and appearance 24 hours after 
being applied to cakes or desserts.

In the quick service restaurant channel, our expansion in 
Eltham, in the North Island of New Zealand, means we can 
now produce 3.5 tonnes of cheese every hour, enough for 
more than three billion burgers per year.

And because customers have unique needs, we produce 
more than 350 different cheese specifications in Eltham, 
meeting precise specifications from different quick service 
restaurant customers.

Consumer and foodservice highlights this year include 
volume growth of 48 per cent in Greater China, five per cent 
in Oceania and Asia, and three per cent in Latin America. 

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

465B

LITRES

GLOBAL 
INCREASE
By 2020, global 
dairy consumption 
is expected to reach 
465 billion litres.

MORE MILK = MORE OPPORTUNITIES
New Zealand farmers are efficient and competitive, and 
produce a high-quality product that is in demand in global 
markets. Our strategy sees us making the most of every 
drop of milk.

But when we look at the globally traded market for milk, 
we see more opportunities to grow returns for our farmers 
and these do not depend on them increasing production 
on their farms.

The fact is that the globally traded market for milk is 
growing faster than New Zealand’s entire dairy industry. 
By 2020, we expect the world to be utilising up to 91 billion 
litres of milk, while we can produce around 25 billion 
litres in New Zealand. If we look at the entire global dairy 
market, which includes consumption within countries, 
demand will be some 465 billion litres by 2020.

Rather than limit our growth, and therefore our returns, 
to the 25 billion litres of milk produced in New Zealand, 
we’re sourcing milk internationally where it makes 
financial and strategic sense to do so and where we 
know we can create additional value for our shareholders. 
This also frees us up to ensure all growth milk in New 
Zealand goes into higher-returning products in ingredients 
solutions and consumer and foodservice.

Australia is a good example of using local milk to generate 
value. The milk we collect there enables our Australian 
business to compete in the butter, cheese and fresh milk 
markets. The milk we source for cheese production links 
into our nutritionals business by providing whey and whey 
protein, while the nutritionals business provides fats to our 
spreads business. 

GLOBAL SOURCING
We’re sourcing milk internationally 
where it makes financial and strategic 
sense to do so.

It’s a similar story in Chile, where we buy milk locally for 
our Soprole consumer business. Soprole has 30 per cent 
of the Chilean consumer dairy market. It has number 
one or two positions in all key dairy categories. It’s a 
long-established, widely recognised and highly regarded 
brand in Chile. Soprole has performed well this year 
contributing to our returns and it’s due to that locally 
sourced milk.

OUR POTENTIAL    |   31 

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

GROUP 
OVERVIEW

The strong performance by the Co-operative 
is demonstrated by an increase in our return 
on capital to 12.4 per cent, up from 8.9 per 
cent the previous year. This reflects increased 
earnings from our strategy to drive more 
volume into higher-value products and 
strong financial discipline.

$1,358M

NORMALISED 
EBIT
Up 39 per cent 
compared to 
last year.

HIGHLIGHTS

 > Significant increase in return on capital to 

12.4 per cent, up from 8.9 per cent
 > Normalised EBIT up 39 per cent to 

$1.4 billion with increased profitability 
across both the ingredients and 
consumer and foodservice businesses

 > Volume growth of one billion LME 

including an additional 380 million LME 
in our consumer and foodservice business

 > Strong sales performance and supply 

chain efficiencies resulting in ingredients 
inventories down 25 per cent

 > Ongoing financial discipline strengthened 
the Co-operative with the gearing ratio 
reduced to within the target 40–45 
per cent range

32   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

Total sales volume increased to 23.7 billion liquid milk 
equivalent (LME) for the year, up four per cent on the 
previous year. Our ingredients sales teams achieved 
four per cent growth despite lower milk collections 
and challenging global market conditions. The growth 
came through our strong presence in key markets and a 
concentrated focus on meeting customer needs through 
product and service innovations. These efforts, alongside 
supply chain efficiencies resulted in lower inventory levels. 

In our consumer and foodservice business, the continued 
focus on executing our strategy resulted in a further 
380 million LME being sold through these channels, an 
increase of eight per cent over the previous year. Our China 
farms operations grew volumes too, as our second hub was 
completed, delivering 229 million LME this financial year.

We delivered significantly higher normalised EBIT of 
$1,358 million, an increase of 39 per cent compared with 
last year.

Ingredients continued its earnings momentum and had 
another very strong year, with normalised EBIT growth 
of 24 per cent. Our increased earnings reflect better 
optimisation of our production to match customer demand 
enabled by increased optionality and improved efficiency 
in our plants. Ingredient’s return on capital increased to 
13.4 per cent, up from 9.3 per cent the previous year.

23.7B

LME

SALES VOLUME
Volume grew four per cent 
to 23.7 billion LME, despite 
challenging conditions.

NZD MILLION

Volume (LME, billion)

Volume (‘000 MT)

Sales revenue 

Gross margin

Gross margin percentage

Operating expenses

Reported EBIT 

Normalised EBIT

Net finance costs

Tax (expense) / credit

Net profit after tax

Earnings per share (cents)

Adjusted earnings per share¹ (cents)

Dividend per share (cents)
Adjusted debt to EBITDA2 (ratio)
Gearing ratio3
Return on capital4

Free cash flow

Capital expenditure

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2015

CHANGE

23.7

4,526

17,199

3,632

21.1%

(2,528)

1,431

1,358

(499)

(98)

834

51

54

40

2.8

44.3%

12.4%

2,184

944

22.8

4,303

18,845

3,278

17.4%

(2,760)

942

974

(518)

82

506

29

39

25

4.7

49.7%

8.9%

(1,372)

1,531

4%

5%

(9%)

11%

–

(8%)

52%

39%

(4%)

–

65%

76%

38%

60%

–

–

–

–

(38%)

1  Adjusted earnings per share excludes certain non-cash items.
2  Ratio is economic net interest bearing debt divided by earnings before interest, tax, 

depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA). Both debt and EBITDA are adjusted for the 
impact of operating leases.

3  Gearing ratio is economic net interest bearing debt divided by economic net interest 

bearing debt, plus equity, excluding cash flow hedge reserve.

4  Return on capital is calculated as normalised EBIT, less equity-accounted investees’ 

earnings, less a notional royalty charge for use of the Group’s brands, less a notional 
tax charge divided by capital employed. Capital employed excludes brands, goodwill 
and equity-accounted investments. Return on capital, including brands, goodwill and 
equity-accounted investments was 9.2 per cent (2015: 6.9 per cent).

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   33 

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016 
FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

GROUP 
OVERVIEW

42
%

INCREASE IN 
NORMALISED 
EBIT
Consumer and 
foodservice 
normalised EBIT 
increased to  
$580 million.

Our consumer and foodservice business performed well and 
delivered normalised EBIT of $580 million, up 42 per cent. 
Globally, our consumer businesses grew five per cent by 
volume and our foodservice strategy continued to deliver, 
with sales volumes up 15 per cent. Combined, this delivered 
a sales volume increase of eight per cent, reflecting our strategy 
of increasing volume in higher-value products.

Providing access to high-quality fresh milk, our China farms 
are an important component of our integrated strategy in 
China. We have completed construction of our second hub 
and commenced building the first farm on our third hub (a 
joint venture with Abbott). Throughout the year we reduced 
on-farm cash costs significantly by taking out RMB0.81 per litre 
produced to better manage in a low milk price environment.

USEFUL FACT 
Liquid Milk Equivalent (LME) is a standard 
measure of the quantity of milk used in 
dairy products, based on the amount of 
fat and protein in the product.

Within our consumer and foodservice business, Greater China 
provided the largest growth in both sales volume and earnings, 
with normalised EBIT of $131 million, up 191 per cent on the 
previous year. This was predominantly as the result of strong 
growth in our foodservice business.

The higher earnings resulted in a return on capital for Fonterra’s 
consumer and foodservice business of 41.7 per cent, up from 
25.5 per cent the previous year.

Our business-wide transformation programme has been a 
key driver of the Co-operative’s overall performance. This 
programme has helped to shift mind-sets to doing things faster 
and more cost effectively without compromising quality, as 
well as achieving cost savings and prioritising expenditure in 
the right areas. Total operating expenses were down eight per 
cent on last year. 

Good progress was made on returning our Australian 
operations to profitability, reflecting an on-going commitment 
to fixing an under-performing business. Consistent with our 
plan, we have taken out costs, reduced working capital, and 
divested non-core assets, including the loss-making yoghurt 
and dairy desserts business, and shares in Bega Cheese Limited 
and Dairy Technology Services (DTS). This enabled the business 
to focus on its core ingredient strengths in cheese, whey and 
nutritionals, which are complementary to our consumer and 
foodservice brands including Anchor™, Western Star™, Perfect 
Italiano™, Bega™ and Mainland™. 

34   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

GEARING 
RATIO
Significant 
improvement in  
the gearing ratio 
to 44.3 per cent, 
from 49.7per cent.

44.3%

STRONGER 
PERFORMANCE
Enabled us to support 
our shareholders 
through an increased 
and early payment of 
the dividend.

Sales of nutritional powders are growing from our Darnum 
factory, with new long-term customers including Bellamy’s 
Organic, signing this year. In addition, the realignment of 
the Australian milk price to a realistic level that reflects 
global dairy prices provides a more sustainable basis for the 
Australian ingredients business. The Australian turnaround has 
put the right foundations in place for sustainable returns.

Tax expense is higher than last year due to higher pre-tax 
profit and a tax charge of $45 million for capital gains triggered 
by the sale of DairiConcepts. Partially offsetting this, the 
15 cents per share higher dividend created a $63 million 
higher tax credit than last year.

STRONG CO-OPERATIVE
On-going financial discipline complemented the strong 
operating result. In accordance with our plan, we have 
reduced our debt levels this year following the investment in 
increased capacity over the previous two years. As at 31 July 
2016, our economic net interest-bearing debt was $5.5 billion, 
a reduction of $1.6 billion from the previous year. This lower 
debt level, combined with higher retained earnings from 
improved performance, resulted in a significant improvement 
in the gearing ratio to 44.3 per cent, down from 49.7 per cent 
the previous year. 

Free cash flow for the year ended 31 July 2016 was $3.6 
billion higher than the previous year, reflecting significant 
improvements in both operating and investing cash flows. 
Operating cash was up $2.6 billion due to higher earnings, 

significant working capital improvements and supplier 
payables moving towards our standard policy. Working 
capital throughout the year was driven lower by our focus 
across all areas, including strong sales and supply chain 
efficiency, which reduced the amount of inventory we carry 
throughout the year.

USEFUL FACT 
As at 31 July 2016, our economic net 
interest-bearing debt was $5.5 billion, 
a reduction of $1.6 billion from the 
previous year.

The combination of a strong operating performance and on-
going financial discipline resulted in a declared dividend of 40 
cents per share for the year ended 31 July 2016, an increase of 
15 cents per share over the previous year. This is in line with 
Fonterra’s dividend policy to pay out 65–75 per cent of adjusted 
net profit after tax over time. 

The performance enabled us in a period of low milk prices to 
also offer assistance to our shareholders through the Fonterra 
Co-operative Support loan and an early payment of the 
dividend. Both of these initiatives were possible because of 
our improved working capital and stronger financial position.

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   35 

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FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016 
INGREDIENTS

This platform includes the global 
sales from our ingredients businesses 
in New Zealand, Australia and 
Latin America. It also includes the 
Fonterra Farm Source™ rural supplies 
retail chain in New Zealand. 

$1,204M

NORMALISED 
EBIT
Ingredients 
normalised EBIT of 
$1,204 million was 
up 24 per cent.

HIGHLIGHTS

 > Return on capital increased to 13.4 per cent 

from 9.3 per cent last year 

 > Normalised EBIT of $1,204 million up 

24 per cent

 > Higher sales volumes despite challenging 

global market conditions 

 > Optimising product returns on relative 

pricing, markets and customer mix

 > Sales focus and supply chain efficiencies 
delivered significantly lower inventory 

 > Prior investments in capacity led to 

improved optionality and higher yields, 
and ensured no peak costs

 > Australia ingredients earnings improved 

INVENTORY 
DOWN
Year-end inventory 
was 25 per cent down 
on last year.

VOLUME 
Milk collection across New Zealand for the 2015/16 season was 
1,566 million kgMS, down three per cent compared with the 
previous season. Lower milk collections were largely a result of 
the low milk price environment, with farmers reducing stocking 
rates and supplementary feeding in order to help reduce costs. 
In Australia, milk collection for the 2015/16 season was 121 
million kgMS, four per cent lower than the previous season.

New Zealand milk production varied across the country with 
the North Island down five per cent and the South Island up 
one per cent. In general, lower production levels as a result 
of changes in farming systems were mitigated by favourable 
growing conditions across most dairying regions. 

Despite lower milk collections and the tough global market 
environment, sales volume grew by four per cent to 
22.4 billion LME. In December 2015, over 300,000 MT was 
shipped from New Zealand to global markets, the first time 
we have achieved that volume in a single month. Year-end 
inventory volume was 25 per cent down on last year through 
managing to optimal levels across our supply-chain and 
successfully matching production to the sales forecasts of 
our direct-to-customer ingredients sales teams. This means 
we have lower inventories, but made up of the right level of 
the products that our customers need.

36   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016GLOBAL 
PRESENCE
Our global presence 
allows us to allocate sales 
to the markets where 
demand is strongest.

NZD MILLION

Volume (LME, billion)

Volume (‘000 MT)

Sales revenue 

Total gross margin

– New Zealand product mix

New Zealand reference products

New Zealand non-reference products

– Australia ingredients

– Other gross margin

Normalised EBIT¹

Gross margin per MT 

Reference products ($ per MT)

Non-reference products ($ per MT)

Return on capital2

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2015

CHANGE

22.4

3,074

13,005

1,862

1,605

634

971

58

199

1,204

330

1,348

13.4%

21.5

2,982

14,341

1,562

1,4653

7823

6833

(27)

1243

973

4033

1,0903

9.3%

4%

3%

(9%)

19%

10%

(19%)

42%

–

60%

24%

(18%)

24%

–

1  Normalised EBIT for Ingredients excludes unallocated costs.
2  Return on capital is calculated as normalised EBIT, less equity-accounted investees’ earnings, less a notional royalty charge for use of the Group’s brands, less a notional tax charge, divided by 

capital employed. Capital employed excludes brands, goodwill and equity-accounted investments.

3  From 1 August 2015 there was a change in the management accountabilities of the Commodity Risk and Trading function within the Ingredients business. Comparatives have been 

restated to reflect this change.

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   37 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016INGREDIENTS

NEW ZEALAND INGREDIENTS 
REVENUE AND VOLUME

Sales volume (‘000 MT)

Reference products

Non-reference products¹

Production volume (‘000 MT)

Reference products

Non-reference products

Revenue per MT NZD

Reference products

Non-reference products¹

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2015

CHANGE

1,920

720

1,873

746

3,276

4,972

1,939

626

2,009

682

3,826

5,831

(1%)

15%

(7%)

9%

(14%)

(15%)

1.  Sales volume and revenue excludes bulk liquid milk. The bulk liquid milk volume for the year ended 31 July 2016 was 77,000 MT 

(year ended 31 July 2015 was 67,000MT).

Our global sales mix by market reflected a recovery in the 
China market with dairy imports up 27 per cent this year 
to July 2016 with our sales volume for the financial year 
up 20 per cent. In addition, there was increased demand 
in North America for fat-based products, and good growth 
in protein and cheese across the markets. 

USEFUL FACT 
Our investments in plant capacity 
and operational efficiencies have 
resulted in no peak costs.

Low dairy prices created opportunities in affordable 
nutrition and opened up opportunities in the Middle East, 
Africa and Latin America. These opportunities partially 
offset the negative impact of challenging geopolitical 
and economic conditions in oil-dependent economies. 
Our Australian ingredients volumes were up nine per cent 
this year with the domestic business driven by strong 
demand for cheese.

VALUE
Ingredients delivered another strong performance, delivering 
$1,204 million normalised EBIT, up 24 per cent on last year. 
This was supported by the increase in volumes sold, improved 
product mix and the value proposition of our products and 
services under the NZMP ingredients brand. Continued 
strength in our New Zealand ingredients business was 
complemented by an improved position in Australia.

Our New Zealand ingredients business manufactures five 
commodity products that inform the Farmgate Milk Price. 
These are referred to as reference products, while all 
other products are referred to as non-reference products. 
The relative difference between reference product and 
non-reference product prices can impact our gross margin. 
In this financial year, we sold more non-reference products 
as gross margins for these were superior compared with 
reference products. Gross margin per metric tonne for 
non-reference products increased 24 per cent, compared 
with an 18 per cent decrease in reference products margins.

Our investments in plant capacity in New Zealand in 
recent years have improved our ability to respond to 
price volatility and channel milk to the highest-returning 
products over periods of peak milk collection and 
throughout the season. We have been able to better match 
our production mix to customer demands and global price 
signals, delivering higher price premiums above GDT and 
avoiding any additional peak costs. 

38   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016 
NON-REFERENCE 
PRODUCTS
Gross margin for 
non-reference products 
favoured production 
over reference products.

During the season, we used this flexibility to move processing 
away from reference products (down seven per cent) such 
as whole milk powder (WMP) and skim milk powder (SMP), 
towards non-reference products (up nine per cent) like 
cheese and casein to take advantage of the change in relative 
contribution. The result of these strategic decisions was an 
overall increase in New Zealand ingredients gross margin of 
$140 million to $1,605 million. 

In Australia, we delivered on our plans to return the business 
to profitability. Earnings improved due to a strong domestic 
cheese business, a focus on increasing sales of nutritionals 
and divestment of non-core assets. Our cheese business 
was supported by New Zealand volumes this year, and 
will be strengthened when our state-of-the-art Stanhope 
cheese plant, which will produce 45,000 MT of cheese per 
year, is commissioned in financial year 2017. In nutritionals, 
we secured new long-term strategic customers for our 
nutritionals plant in Darnum, including Bellamy’s Organics, 
and we are awaiting final regulatory approval for our joint 
venture agreement with Beingmate. 

Alongside the improvements in the supply chain, operating 
performance was lifted by further gains in operational 
and capital efficiency at our sites. We reduced input costs, 
improved yields and lifted product quality. Within our capital 
investment programme the focus was on simplification, 
reliability and quality performance. 

We constructed a new large-scale WMP plant at Lichfield, 
made multiple investments at Whareroa (one of our largest 
sites) and also closed smaller end-of-economic-life plants to 
improve our overall efficiency. We commissioned a new spray 
drier at Pahiatua and a low-volume, high-value lactoferrin 
plant at Hautapu for our ingredients business. 

Prior year investments such as the mozzarella plant at 
Clandeboye, AMF and MPC plants at Edendale and in 
slice-on-slice cheese at Eltham are now fully operational 
and performing well.

Our customers have responded positively to our hard work 
during the year and we achieved a best-in-class result on 
our customer value measure. This reflected the continued 
strength of our product and service performance relative to 
competitors, with customers highlighting our better service, 
product quality and reliability. 

An example of this was the opening of the offshore 
ingredients hub in Singapore, our second after Dubai. 
Through this facility, we are able to shorten our supply chain, 
reduce our costs and more quickly meet customer orders.

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   39 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016CONSUMER AND 
FOODSERVICE

This platform comprises the 
consumer brands and foodservice 
businesses in Asia, Greater China, 
Latin America and Oceania.

380

M
LME

HIGHER VALUE
An additional 380 
million LME moved 
into higher-value 
consumer and 
foodservice products.

HIGHLIGHTS

 > Return on capital increased to 41.7 per cent 

from 25.5 per cent last year

 > An additional 380 million LME moved into 

higher-value products

 > Normalised EBIT growth of 42 per cent 

to $580 million

 > Investments in innovation and distribution 

channels supporting growth

 > Foodservice volume growth of 15 per cent 

with expanded gross margins

40   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

VOLUME
In line with our strategy to move more volume into 
higher-value consumer and foodservice products, we achieved 
volume growth of eight per cent to 4.9 billion LME. We added 
another 0.2 billion LME in both consumer and foodservice 
sales, representing growth of five per cent and 15 per cent 
respectively. Greater China was the main growth driver 
by region:

>  Greater China: 48 per cent volume growth, largely due 

to the continued expansion of our foodservice business in 
Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan

>  Oceania: strong volume growth of five per cent in the 

mature markets of Australia and New Zealand, as a result 
of increased demand for fresh white milk and butter, 
and UHT sales both for domestic supply and export

>  Asia: strong growth of five per cent in consumer and 

domestic foodservice with Sri Lanka up 22 per cent, but the 
overall volume was down one per cent due to reclassification 
of North Asia foodservice sales to ingredients 

>  Latin America: three per cent volume growth due to strong 
performance from Soprole in liquid milk and mature cheese, 
increased sales of spreadable cheese, fermented milk and 
desserts in Brazil, offset by lower production due to the plan 
to reduce use of imported materials in Venezuela.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FOODSERVICE 
ROLLOUT
We continued the roll-out of 
our foodservice business in 
Mainland China and Taiwan.

NZD MILLION

Volume (LME, billion)

Consumer

Foodservice

Volume (‘000 MT) 

Sales revenue 

Gross margin

Gross margin (percentage)

Consumer

Foodservice

Normalised EBIT

Return on capital

NORMALISED EBIT: KEY PERFORMANCE DRIVERS
NZD MILLION

Normalised EBIT prior year

Volume

Price

Cost of goods sold

Operating expenses

Other

Normalised EBIT

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2015

CHANGE

4.9

3.1

1.8

1,800

6,296

1,808

29%

29%

27%

580

41.7%

4.5

2.9

1.6

1,685

6,701

1,723

26%

27%

22%

408

25.5%

8%

5%

15%

7%

(6%)

5%

–

–

–

42%

–

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2015

408

120

(210)

251

(3)

14

580

129

41

(67)

284

43

(22)

408

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   41 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016CONSUMER AND 
FOODSERVICE

CONSUMER AND FOODSERVICE PERFORMANCE

LME (BILLION)

NORMALISED EBIT ($M)

YEAR ENDED 
31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 

31 JULY 2015 CHANGE

YEAR ENDED 
31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 

31 JULY 2015 CHANGE

Consumer and foodservice

Greater China

Oceania

Asia

Latin America

4.9

0.9

1.8

1.6

0.6

4.5

0.6

1.7

1.6

0.6

8%

48%

5%

(1%)

3%

580

131

97

244

108

408

45

51

202

110

42%

191%

90%

21%

(2%)

VALUE
Our consumer and foodservice businesses delivered a strong 
improvement in return on capital, up to 41.7 per cent from 25.5 
per cent the year before. This was a combination of increasing 
normalised EBIT by $172 million to $580 million and a reduced 
capital base through divestments and lower working capital:

>  Greater China: normalised EBIT growth to $131 million as 
a result of significant volume growth through our on-going 
investments in brands and distribution

>  Oceania: an additional $46 million in normalised EBIT, 
reflecting the sale of the loss-making yoghurt and dairy 
desserts business in Australia and continued good 
performance in New Zealand

>  Asia: normalised EBIT growth of $42 million to $244 million, 

driven by an improvement in gross margins 

>  Latin America: solid result of $108 million reflected robust 
growth out of Chile, but was offset by Venezuela’s lower 
contribution this year due to rebasing of the exchange rate 
and the planned volume reductions.

REGIONAL UPDATE

Greater China
Greater China continues to deliver strong results with volume 
growth of 48 per cent and normalised EBIT up $86 million to 
$131 million. We held operational expenditure to a 1.5 per cent 
increase against this significant increase in volume.

USEFUL FACT 
We announced a partnership 
with leading online retailer JD.com 
to increase distribution of our 
consumer products to lower tier cities.

China foodservice grew significantly as we broadened our 
operations, supported the growth of our existing customers 
and secured new business. Our successful channel strategy 
focusing on Asian bakery, Italian kitchen and quick service 
restaurants continues to deliver both volume and value growth, 
particularly in Mainland China. We have well-performing 
foodservice businesses in Hong Kong and Taiwan that have 
enjoyed continued growth in volume and value.

Strong Anchor™ brand awareness as a leading imported 
milk brand with clear perception of our New Zealand origin, 
together with an increased e-commerce presence has 
strengthened our brands in China.

42   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016INNOVATION
In New Zealand we launched a 
number of successful products.

In specialty powders, our partnership with Beingmate enabled 
our Anmum™ range to expand coverage from about 60 to 170 
cities. Our Anlene™ brand focused on increasing awareness, 
regaining number-one market position in Hong Kong on 
the back of our ‘Freedom to Move’ campaign successfully 
expanding our consumer base.

Oceania
Our consumer and foodservice businesses in Australia 
and New Zealand (including the Pacific Islands) delivered 
a significant gain on last year’s performance, with normalised 
EBIT increasing $46 million to $97 million. New Zealand 
continued its strong performance, while in Australia, our 
focus on divesting non-core assets, winning brands and 
strong customer relationships accelerated the turnaround 
and delivered an improved result.

During the year, we sold our shares in Bega Cheese Limited 
and the loss-making Australian yoghurt and dairy desserts 
business. This included manufacturing sites at Tamar Valley 
and Echuca as well as the associated brands. The benefits 
of this sale are shown in the second half of our result, as we 
were still operating these businesses through the first half.

Innovation supported our volume growth of five per cent. 
In Australia, our Anchor™ branded milk launched in the 
premium category utilising microfiltration technology, 
an Australian first in milk.

USEFUL FACT 
Anchor Food Professionals in New 
Zealand developed a tailored smoothie 
solution for the café segment. 

In New Zealand, we had a number of successful new 
products in Fresh ’n Fruity™ pouches, Top Notch™ ice cream, 
and Kapiti™ sorbets. We also saw the New Zealand launch 
of the Anmum™ range of infant formula and maternal 
nutritional powders. 

Our domestic foodservice businesses in both markets 
delivered good results with volume and revenue growth 
and improved gross margins. We launched Anchor Food 
Professionals and have continued our strong track-record 
of developing new products to match consumer trends. 

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   43 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016CONSUMER AND 
FOODSERVICE

ASIA
Foodservice delivered 
significant volume 
growth across most  
of our markets.

Asia
We continued our earnings momentum in Asia and increased 
normalised EBIT by $42 million to deliver another strong result 
of $244 million. This came despite some challenging economic 
and geopolitical conditions, particularly throughout the Central 
Asia, Middle East and Africa regions. 

USEFUL FACT 
In Ethiopia, we successfully 
launched Anchor™ milk powder with 
focus on affordability, availability, 
and awareness.

Growth in our underlying consumer and foodservice 
businesses was five per cent by volume, but the reclassification 
of North Asia foodservice sales to the ingredients business 
resulted in volumes being down one per cent.

Overall, Asia delivered an improved gross margin as a result 
of favourable costs of goods sold, driven by lower commodity 
prices, price management and moving more volume into 
higher-value foodservice products. We implemented the right 
pricing strategies to counter intense competition within the 
consumer business and launched new Anlene MoveMax™, and 
Anmum™ Maternal and Paediatric formulation with Nuelipid™. 
Our foodservice business model differentiates us from the 
competition and contributed to the improved gross margin.

The consumer business across the region performed well. 
In Sri Lanka, where we hold the number-one market position, 
we grew 22 per cent in volume and 18 per cent in value. 
Anchor™ and Ratthi™ full-cream milk powder grew faster 
than the category as a result of successful marketing activities 
and competitive pricing, combined with the launch of Anchor™ 
Newdale liquid milk and yoghurt.

In the domestic foodservice businesses, we achieved 
significant volume growth across most of our markets, 
including Sri Lanka, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam and 
Thailand, with a strong focus on chef-led solutions driving 
good growth in cheese, butter and UHT cream.  

44   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FOCUSED  
CATEGORIES
Soprole growth was  
driven by innovation 
in our focus categories 
of UHT milk, cheese, 
yoghurts and desserts.

Latin America
Our Latin America business delivered normalised EBIT of $108 
million, slightly behind last year’s performance of $110 million. 
Sustained growth in Chile, the success of our Caribbean 
business and the positive results of our Brazil transformation 
plan were offset by one-time implementation costs in Brazil 
and the impacts of inflation and our plan to reduce reliance 
on imported products in our Venezuela business.

USEFUL FACT 
We added 20,000 new 
points of sale for Dairy Partners 
Americas products.

Soprole, our consumer business in Chile, delivered an 
outstanding result this year. This was driven by sustainable 
growth through a robust innovation agenda in our focus 
categories of UHT milk, cheese, yoghurts and desserts. 
We also saw the benefits of our new distribution centre 
running extremely well and our ‘Simplicity’ programme 
reducing the number of stores we deliver to directly enabling 
lower costs without compromising on volume.

In Brazil, we completed our transition of the business 
following the restructuring of our joint venture with Nestlé. 
The first half of the year carried significant one-time costs 
associated with implementing the transition plan. Operating 
performance improved in the second half, but gains were 
largely offset by increases in the domestic milk price (now up 
47 per cent over last year), a continued decline in the overall 
dairy category and the challenging economic environment. 

We delivered volume growth and increased market share 
in volume and value despite a shrinking overall market. 
This came through a strong innovation agenda, investing 
in marketing and the continuous improvement of our new 
go-to-market model.

In Venezuela, we incurred additional costs early in the year as 
access to US dollars in market became more limited and more 
expensive. Our strategy to reduce the risk from our exposure 
to US dollar expenses in Venezuela has been successful. 

Our Caribbean businesses remain a success story – delivering 
sustained earnings through operating a lean, low-cost trading 
business. We have strong distributor networks and good brand 
recognition and this helped performance in a year where low 
European milk prices saw increased imports into the region. 

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   45 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FINDING 
PERFORMANCE  
IN THE BUSINESS 
OF FOOD 

As Anchor Food Professionals, we work 
alongside our customers to deliver business, 
menu and product solutions that drive 
performance in all aspects of their  
operations and to help grow their business.

EXTRA STRETCH 
MOZZARELLA
Pre-grated mozzarella saves 
valuable time and reduces 
wastage. Individually quick 
frozen to capture the fresh 
quality and authentic taste, 
making the perfect pizza.

WE ARE UNIQUELY 
POSITIONED TO DELIVER ON 
OUR GROWTH ASPIRATIONS:

Our strategy is focussed on chef-led 
solutions for three specific types of 
foodservice businesses where dairy 
provides the ‘wow’ factor:

1    Fit-for-purpose products designed for 

food professionals, by food professionals.

2   Fonterra’s world-leading technology 

platforms in mozzarella, butter and cream.

3    The uniquely New Zealand dairy taste and texture 

profile resulting from our pasture-fed system.

4   A network of foodservice specialist, chefs, bakers 

and application kitchens across Asia Pacific to 
deliver chef-led solutions for customers.

5    The full dairy range and heritage of our 

Anchor Food Professionals brand.

46   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

ASIAN BAKERY 
The largest foodservice segment and 
a unique style of bakery throughout 
Asia and China, where the focus is on 
pastries, cakes, desserts and buns.

ITALIAN KITCHEN 
Pizza/pasta restaurants are the 
largest foodservice segment globally. 
Pizza is the world’s most popular 
food and pasta dishes are increasingly 
cream-based.

QUICK SERVICE 
RESTAURANTS (QSR) 
Global brands dominate the QSR 
segment of the foodservice market. 
We are the preferred supplier in Asia 
Pacific for cheese solutions to many 
of these customers today.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016WE HAVE CLEAR 
ASPIRATIONS:

 By 2023, we aim to be a $5 billion 
business, supplying over one 
million MT (five billion LME) 
of dairy products to customers 
around the world each year.

By this time, we will be using over  
20 per cent of the New Zealand 
milk pool.

Foodservice is all about food and beverages that are 
consumed out of the home, including a wide range 
of eating occasions and outlets:

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   47 

HOTELSRESTAURANTS CAFÉSCAFETERIASCINEMAS & THEATRESHOSPITALSSCHOOLSAIRPORTSHOTELSRESTAURANTS CAFÉSCAFETERIASCINEMAS & THEATRESHOSPITALSSCHOOLSAIRPORTSOUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016CHINA 
FARMS

This platform comprises the 
farming operations in China, 
producing high-quality fresh 
milk as part of our integrated 
China strategy.

229 M 

LME

HIGHLIGHTS

 > Completion of Ying (Hub Two)
 > Significant reduction in operating costs
 > Part of an integrated dairy business 

in China

48   |   OUR PERFORMANCE

MILK 
VOLUME
Sales volume for 
the year increased 
by 40 per cent.

VOLUME
Our farming operations in China comprise two completed 
hubs producing high-quality fresh milk. Yutian is our most 
established hub and is fully housed with livestock. It consists 
of three single farms and one double farm with 16,200 milking 
cows in total.

Our second hub, Ying became fully operational during the year, 
with development now complete. Ying consists of one single 
farm and two double farms, with 14,200 milking cows and we 
will see further growth as the herd matures.

USEFUL FACT 
A typical hub consists of three to five 
farms in one region with approximately 
16,000 milking cows. A single farm 
can accommodate up to 3,200 milking  
cows, while a double farm has capacity  
of up to twice that number.

Sales volume of raw milk increased by 40 per cent compared 
with last year. This increase in volume was largely due to the 
additional farms at the Ying hub coming on stream and the 
scaling up from single to double farms. Volume will continue 
to build at Ying and when at full capacity, expected in financial 
year 2020, our farms will be able to produce a combined 
volume of around 380-400 million LME.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016 
 
COST REDUCTIONS
Cost reductions were 
achieved through reduced 
feed and labour costs, and 
enhanced plant processes.

We are continuing to progress our third hub, a joint venture 
between Fonterra and Abbott, which leverages our expertise 
in dairy nutrition and farming, and Abbott’s continued 
commitment to business development in China. Construction 
of the first farm has begun and a second farm will be completed 
in 2017. We have a rolling plan for further development.

VALUE
Our strategy for China farms is still to deliver value through 
integrating them into our ingredients, consumer and 
foodservice businesses in Greater China. We are reducing our 
costs through operational efficiencies driven by a combination 
of higher milk volume and increased on-farm efficiencies. 
Cost reductions were achieved this year through reduced 
feed and on-farm costs, and production efficiencies.

Despite the operational efficiencies and milk volume growth, 
the low Chinese milk price did not allow us to deliver to full 
earnings potential. At RMB3.35, the average milk price in the 
year was down RMB0.51 on last year. Although this was partly 
offset by our efficiency improvements, the low absolute level 
of prices still resulted in a normalised EBIT loss of $59 million. 

In China, purchasers place a premium on having long-term 
contracts for high-quality milk such as that produced 
at our farms. At our established hub in Yutian, we were able to 
sell the majority of our milk under contract. 

NZD MILLION

Volume (LME, billion)

Volume (‘000 MT)

Sales revenue 

Normalised EBIT

YEAR 
ENDED 
31 JULY 2016

YEAR 
ENDED 

31 JULY 2015 CHANGE

0.2

229

183

(59)

0.2

164

141

(44)

40%

40%

30%

–

Our new hub at Ying is still in the process of securing 
contracts for its milk as production ramps up. This resulted 
in a higher proportion of milk sold on the spot market, 
at lower prices.

Livestock valuations are required by accounting practices 
and reflect the milk price and herd assumptions at the time. 
These assumptions were in line with last year, and for the 
full year there was a net loss of $7 million.

Capital expenditure for the year was significantly reduced 
as development finished at Ying. Other investments were 
made in livestock purchases and an effluent treatment 
system upgrade at the Yutian and Ying hubs. With both hubs 
now fully operational, capital expenditure will be at long-run 
average levels sufficient to cover on-going maintenance 
and farm performance. We are now well placed through 
our China farms to meet growing demand for high-quality, 
fresh dairy products.

OUR PERFORMANCE    |   49 

OUR PERFORMANCEFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SUSTAINABILITY AND 
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

BUILDING ON STRONG VALUES

At Fonterra operating responsibly 
means we listen to the perspectives 
of our stakeholders, take ownership 
for the impacts of our decisions on 
society and the environment, and 
contribute to sustainable development 
within our communities.

WE ARE IMPROVING 
OUR SUSTAINABILITY 
PERFORMANCE GLOBALLY.

WE ARE BUILDING 
ON GREAT WORK 
ALREADY UNDERTAKEN 
BY OUR PEOPLE, FROM 
BEHIND THE FARM GATE, 
THROUGHOUT OUR 
INTEGRATED SUPPLY CHAIN 
AND REACHING TO OUR 
CUSTOMERS, CONSUMERS 
AND COMMUNITIES. WE 
HAVE MADE PROGRESS, 
BUT THERE IS ALWAYS 
MORE THAT WE CAN DO. 

50   |     SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

EMBEDDING A PRIORITISED APPROACH
We gather and analyse information on what’s important  
to our farmers, employees, customers, consumers, national 
and regional government bodies and industry organisations.

As a result, we have prioritised the range of topics that matter 
most to both our stakeholders and the Co-operative’s success: 
employment and development, food safety, health and 
nutrition, community development, water, climate and energy.

OUR VALUES
Developed collaboratively, our values 
of Co-operative Spirit, Do What’s 
Right, Challenge Boundaries and 
Make It Happen guide our actions 
and underpin our approach.

OUR PEOPLE
People are core to what we do: our farming families caring 
for the animals and resources that produce milk; our global staff 
making, selling and delivering our products; and our customers 
and consumers who enjoy the high-quality nutrition we provide.

Our values help create an environment where people with 
diverse experiences and ways of thinking are encouraged and 
enabled. We do not tolerate discrimination or harassment and 
we provide an independently operated confidential hotline so 
employees can anonymously report any concerns they may have. 

CO-OPERATIVESPIRITDO WHAT’SRIGHT MAKE ITHAPPEN CHALLENGEBOUNDARIESFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

LOWEST 
INJURY RATE
Employee injury rate 
down to 6.4 total injuries 
per million hours worked, 
down 65 per cent since 2010.

Our agreement with the International Union of Food and 
the New Zealand Dairy Workers Union recognises our 
commitment to meet the fundamental labour standards 
as set by the International Labour Organisation, for all 
Fonterra employees. This year, our Centre of Expertise 
for Employee Relations has launched a training video for 
employees to help ensure we meet these obligations.

Health, safety and wellbeing
Right across the globe we want all of our people to be healthy, to 
live a balanced life and to go home from work safely every day. 

Our Safe Home System is helping our people leaders become 
even more safety aware and to involve their teams regularly in 
shaping safer workplaces. In Latin America, this was extended 
further, with staff family members involved in our ‘Life Savers’1 
campaign to emphasise the importance of going home  
safely every day. 

Our Safe Home System standards are aligned as a minimum 
with AS/NZS 4801:2001 (Occupational Health and Safety 
Management Systems), and this year, in addition to 72 
self-assessment audits, we completed comprehensive audits 
on 10 of our sites, and they show improved resilience. 

Sadly, a member of the public lost their life on one of our 
China farms2. However, our serious harm injuries3 decreased 
to 21, our lowest level ever recorded. For all fatalities and 
serious-harm injuries, we conduct investigations to identify 
root causes and we implement corrective actions and share 
learning across the business. 

We achieved a 21 per cent reduction in employee injury 
rates, which were down to 6.4 total injuries per million hours 
worked. Again, this is our lowest recorded level, and a total 
reduction of 65 per cent since 2010. While this is pleasing, 291 
of our employees still required medical treatment, restricted 
work duties or time away from work as a result of an injury so 
we remain committed to further reduction. 

At the New Zealand Workplace Health and Safety Awards this 
year, we received three awards including ‘Supreme Award for Best 
Overall Contribution to Improving Workplace Health and Safety’. 

Our wellbeing challenge for the year was ‘Eat, Move, Sleep’. 
For six weeks, staff competing in teams were encouraged to 
eat five servings of fruit and vegetables, move for more than 
30 minutes and sleep for at least seven hours daily. Globally, 
nearly 20 per cent of employees took part and for most it led 
to healthy changes that they intended to maintain. 

We also care about safety in the community so we partnered 
with Southland District Council to use smartphone technology 
in our milk tankers to automatically gather road-quality 
information. The data from the daily work helps the Council 
ensure safer journeys for Southland’s road users, a project 
that won the Council an award for infrastructure management 
at the 2016 Local Government Excellence Awards. 

1  Life Savers are six simple behaviours introduced as a way of making our staff aware of our 

most significant risks.

2  There were also eight on-road fatalities (including members of the public) that were found 

to be beyond Fonterra’s control.

3  Serious harm injuries are injuries that cause temporary or permanent loss of body function 

and includes both employees and contractors.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   51 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SUSTAINABILITY AND  
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

CAREER 
DEVELOPMENT
Wang Xiangru has 
progressed from translator 
to Production Manager 
responsible for more 
than 150 staff.

BUYING POWER
Fonterra Farm Source™ 
offers significant discounts on 
the core products that farmers 
need for the new season.

Livelihoods and income creation
We are committed to generating sustainable employment, 
skills development and wealth creation opportunities for our 
communities. During this period of sustained low international 
dairy prices, we have sought creative ways to reduce the 
financial impact on our farmer shareholders, sharemilkers, farm 
managers and hence the wider communities.

In addition to interest-free deferred terms already helping 
about 8,000 farms, our Farm Source™ retail stores launched 
a much larger package in May, offering significant discounts 
on the core products farmers need going into a new season. 
The discounts are available to all Fonterra shareholders, 
sharemilkers, contract milkers and herd managers. 

Through this difficult year, our farmers and staff living in rural 
areas have found many different ways to provide additional 
support, organising rural events on topics such as personal 
resilience and reducing operating costs, or simply holding 
‘pie Fridays’ as an opportunity to meet and chat.

In Australia, where supplying farmers have also been impacted 
by the dairy downturn, we provided access to low-interest 
support loans to assist with cash flow and further measures 
to support autumn calvers.

Training and development
We have globally expanded our He Tangata: It is People 
leadership programme and since February 2015, more than 
2,000 managers have completed the ‘Coaching to Lead’ 
module and 700 staff have completed e-learning modules. 

This year, 71 staff completed our Dairy Apprenticeship and 
Skills Recognition programme, which offers existing dairy 
factory workers a path to a recognised4 qualification. 

We have also partnered with local iwi at our Lichfield and 
_
Hautapu sites so that young Ma
ori employed into our engineering 
apprenticeship scheme also have support and pastoral care from 
their community to help ensure their long-term success.

Case Study – Career Development in China
Developing capability is essential to our success and employee 
engagement. Wang Xiangru, affectionately known as Shrerk, 
is a case in point. Shrerk was a fresh graduate when he joined 
the Co-operative as a translator during the building of our first 
farm in China in 2008. After six months he became a Fonterra 
full-time Vet Assistant. Then, just two months later he became 
a Technical Assistant to the Operations Manager. In 2011, Shrerk 
decided working with the cows was his preference, becoming a 
Milk Parlour Supervisor and leading a team in the Yutian 1 Farm. 
In September 2012, Shrerk became the Production Manager 
for Yutian 2 Farm and since 2015, he has been managing two 
farms at the hub, responsible for more than 150 staff.

4  Recognised by the New Zealand Qualifications Agency at level 4.

52   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SRI LANKA
Our team of Supplier 
Relationship Officers 
provide on-farm training 
to local farmers.

DAIRY DEVELOPMENT
Dairy Development is our contribution to improving 
livelihoods and creating thriving communities by generating 
sustainable employment, skills development and wealth 
creation opportunities in other markets.

USEFUL FACT 
Our new milk collection centre 
at Doluwa in Sri Lanka uses rapid 
chilling technology to reduce milk 
temperature from 35 to 4 degrees 
Celsius in seconds.

Sri Lanka
This year, we opened a demonstration and training farm at 
Pannala, the first major private-sector training facility in Sri 
Lanka. The facility employs local people in managerial, animal 
care and farmhand roles, and will train around 2,500 farmers 
each year. To support this activity, three Fonterra shareholders 
from New Zealand volunteered their time and spent a month 
each in Sri Lanka to provide practical hands-on advice.

Providing on-going farming training, our network of Supplier 
Relationship Officers has grown to 21, and we now have our 
own seven milk collection centres, providing milk for use in 
our Anchor™ products.

Indonesia
Working with the Indonesian Government, our Fonterra 
Dairy Scholarship is now in its fourth year. This 12-month 
programme helps dairy farmers through classroom and 
practical training sessions in Indonesia and New Zealand. 
For all but one of this year’s cohort of 12 students, their month 
in New Zealand was their first international travel experience. 
Practical work on farms in the Waikato is different, but it 
gives first-hand experience of the underlying topics that lead 
to good management practice, such as animal welfare, pasture 
management and hygiene.

An active alumni support programme and other short training 
courses are also offered throughout the year in Indonesia.

China
Encouraging the development of young Chinese talent in 
agriculture is important to us. On our farms in China, more 
than 75 per cent of staff are locally recruited and trained and 
we source about 85 per cent of feed locally, providing income 
and development opportunities for the wider industry.

We also support a farmer training programme with the 
Chinese Ministry of Agriculture, Dairy Association of China 
and the National Dairy Industry Technology System that 
has developed the skills of 3,400 local farmers since 2012. 
In association with the Ministry of Industry and Information 
Technology, we also support manufacturing training with 
about 20 dairy practitioners invited to New Zealand each year.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   53 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SUSTAINABILITY AND  
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

QUALITY FIRST
Our Te Awamutu site was first 
in the world to be awarded 
the newly created combined 
food safety and quality system 
certification FSSC22000-Q.

GLOBAL FOOD 
DEFENCE
We are taking a four-
pronged approach  
to further protect 
our consumers 
through innovative 
technology.

TRUST IN SOURCE
We challenge ourselves to see the world through our 
customers’ and consumers’ eyes, producing the safest, high-
quality dairy products and innovating to create better dairy 
nutrition choices for tomorrow.

At our Canpac site, we are developing a new world-leading 
approach to product authentication which, from next year, 
will allow customers across the world to access product 
confirmation and origin details instantly at the point of sale, 
using their mobile phone.

Last year we started a process to surpass standard compliance 
and have our manufacturing plants audited against the latest 
globally recognised benchmark standards. All our New Zealand 
sites have now achieved FSSC22000 Food Safety System 
Certification and our Te Awamutu site was the first in the world 
to be awarded the newly created combined food safety and 
quality system certification FSSC22000-Q.

To defend against criminal activity, we have introduced covert 
anti-counterfeiting technology across much of our consumer-
ready packaging and we will continue to extend this.

To further protect our consumers we have also extended our use 
of tamper-evident seals on packaging to all Anmum™ products 
in New Zealand and Indonesia, giving consumers a visible 
indication of product tampering that could occur post-packing.

Thinking and living food safety and quality
To reach these benchmarks, our comprehensive food safety 
and quality standards require a proactive approach where our 
staff think and live quality at every step. 

We have built on the success of our Supply Chain Experience 
road shows last year to ensure our staff understand our 
expectations regarding food safety and quality, using a mix of 
interactive activities and real-life examples from the past year 
to propagate that thinking.

Global food defence – a four-pronged approach
We continue to build our food traceability capabilities and are 
progressively deploying an automated system to help us track 
the batch history of all ingredients and packaging efficiently 
and accurately across our supply chain. 

Our customers
For our business-to-business customers we use an annual 
satisfaction survey to assess our performance and identify 
areas for improvement. This year, we achieved an overall value 
performance score of 8.0, our highest score ever. 

Based on feedback we received last year, handling complaints 
was identified as an area for improvement, so this year we 
rationalised our approach. Our goal was to shorten the value 
chain, reducing the time to resolve any complaint raised and 
building a closer connection between the specific expert for 
any given case and the customer. This focus has reduced total 
resolution time by eight days and increased the quality of 
response, raising our overall complaints experience score 
from 7.7 to 8.0. Any score of 8.0 or above is considered a 
best-in-class result.

54   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

BATCH HISTORYANTI COUNTERFEITTAMPEREVIDENT SEALS   PRODUCTAUTHENTICATIONFONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

REDUCED 
SUGAR
Anchor Uno™ the  
lowest sugar yoghurt 
brand for kids in  
New Zealand.

HEALTHY 
RESULTS
Fonterra Milk for 
Schools is having 
a positive impact 
with an increase in 
the proportion of 
children achieving 
the dietary guidelines.

HEALTH AND NUTRITION
Fonterra is committed to delivering superior dairy nutrition 
based on sound science and championing dairy nutrition 
understanding, awareness and accessibility.

We are continuously moving our product portfolio towards using 
minimum quantities of added sugars without compromising 
quality, taste, texture and safety. Over recent years, we have 
been reviewing products, prioritising those everyday products 
that deliver the goodness of dairy targeted at children.

Anchor Uno™ was launched as a smooth, probiotic yoghurt 
aimed at kids, with an added bundle of vitamins and minerals 
tailored specifically to support healthy immune systems. 
It also has no artificial colours, flavours or sweeteners.

Although this product had contained similar levels of added 
sugar to our competitors, we used an innovative solution, 
developed by our own research team, to reduce sugar by 
40 per cent without compromising on taste. It makes Anchor 
Uno™ the lowest-sugar yoghurt brand for kids in New Zealand5.

In March, we launched Anmum™ in New Zealand with 
PediaPro3, our toddler milk with no added sugars. Anmum™, 
our maternal and paediatric brand, has been delivering value-
add products to Asia since 1994.

Further afield, this year we also launched our first Anchor™ 
branded product into Ethiopia. Under-nutrition and micronutrient 
deficiency is a real problem in Ethiopia, so we worked with the 
Food and Nutrition Society of Ethiopia to create a fit-for-purpose 
fortified milk-based drink that provides children with access to 
affordable, smaller portions of dairy along with eight essential 
nutrients they may be missing from their daily diets.

In-school programmes
Fonterra Milk for Schools
Through Fonterra Milk for Schools we want to make a 
difference to the health of future generations of Kiwi kids by 
making a free serving of cold milk available to all primary-aged 
school children every school day.

Three years since the national rollout started, 1,455 schools are 
involved, with more than 140,000 children drinking and about 
68 million individual packs. 

In July 2013, we set up a study with The University of 
Auckland’s National Institute of Health Innovation to assess 
the impact of Fonterra Milk for Schools on dairy consumption, 
general health indicators and attitudes to nutrition from 
participating children. After two years, the conclusions are 
very positive:
>  There was a significant increase in the proportion of 
children achieving the dietary guidelines for dairy 
consumption every day.

>  93 per cent of children were achieving the dietary 

guidelines on weekdays.

>  96 per cent of the children liked the taste of the milk.
>  72 per cent of parents surveyed considered the programme 

to have a positive impact on their child’s health.

5  Based on the average sugar content of the top five kid’s yoghurt brands according to 

Nielson data as at 26 June 2016.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   55 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SUSTAINABILITY AND  
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

125,000 KICKSTART 

BREAKFASTS
served every 
week, through 879 
breakfast clubs.

KickStart Breakfast
Targeted at those New Zealand children arriving at school hungry, 
our KickStart Breakfast programme is now in its seventh year.

USEFUL FACT 
KickStart Breakfast started in 2009 with 
Sanitarium and was expanded from two 
to five days a week when the Government 
joined as a partner in 2013.

With more than 125,000 breakfasts served every week to 
more than 28,000 children and young people, we know these 
students are getting a great start to their school day. KickStart 
Breakfast enables New Zealand children in need to learn, 
helping them achieve their potential. It is a great example of 
how the community, the private sector and the Government 
can work together to create a positive change in the lives of 
those in need. 

EMERGENCY 
SERVICES 
Grants from the Fonterra 
Grass Roots Fund have helped 
a variety of ambulance, rural 
fire and search and rescue 
teams across the regions.

COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund
The Fonterra Grass Roots Fund provides financial support 
for initiatives that help to strengthen our dairy communities, 
making them safer and more vibrant places to be. It was 
launched in 2007 in New Zealand and Sri Lanka in 2014, 
and we aim to gradually expand its coverage.

New Zealand
In New Zealand, community groups are invited to apply for 
grants with decision-making on who receives them made 
regionally involving staff, our farmers and, the community. 
More than 2,000 grants have been provided in total and, this 
year, approximately $600,000 was given to more than 300 
community organisations, with a few highlighted here. 

Love Soup is an organisation providing meals to those who 
need them around the country. We originally helped to get Love 
Soup started with a community garden in Tokoroa. This year, 
our contribution helped them buy eye-catching t-shirts for their 
volunteers as they expand their services to the Hibiscus Coast.

Several search and rescue teams around the country received 
grants, including Motueka who purchased new wet weather 
gear. The St John Ambulance Central Region team purchased 
Etonox regulators to provide fast-acting pain relief in difficult-
to-reach situations and we also helped rural fire services in 
Opunake, Manawatu and Kawhia.

56   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

UPGRADING 
INFRASTRUCTURE 
In Sri Lanka this year, we 
upgraded nine early childhood 
centres and constructed a new 
classroom for children from  
our dairying community.

Sri Lanka
Our Sri Lankan Fund works with trusted partners such as 
the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement and the Kansarmen 
Foundation, responding to specific community needs, 
especially those of children. Since its launch, we have 
contributed over Rs30 million (NZD280,000 approx), 
completing 40 projects and reaching an estimated 
25,000 people in rural areas where we source milk. 
Projects this year included infrastructure development, 
water and sanitation facilities and teacher training.

Greater China
In Greater China, our care for our communities focuses 
on health and nutrition in the rural villages where we have 
farming operations and on vulnerable groups in the cities.

This year, through our partnership with the China Soong 
Ching Ling Foundation, we donated more ambulances, two 
to Yutian County and two to Ying County. We also provided 
free health checks to over 200 villagers near Yutian and 
funding to help Hangu Middle School renovate its dormitory. 
For World Milk Day, we donated nutritional dairy products 
to students at Guang’ai School in Beijing, Shanghai Baby’s 
Home and Gaojiazhuang Primary School in Yutian.

With our new business partner, Beingmate, we have also 
launched a new programme where consumers can help us 
to donate Anmum™, Anchor™ and Anlene™ products to 
people in need, with RMB3 million (over NZD600,000) 
of donations already generated by the programme. 

Latin America
For 15 years, Soprole has been supporting school sports 
in Chile. With an estimated one and a half million people 
impacted through the activities of different clubs and 
organisations across seven different disciplines, this is a great 
opportunity to encourage healthy outdoor exercise and to 
instil important values such as hard work, perseverance and 
solidarity. Every year we also grant scholarships to the best 
participant in each discipline, to cover tuition fees for the 
following year if the student graduates from high school.

This year, we continued our partnership with the Universidad 
Católica de Chile to bring theatre performances to 12 of 
Chile’s main cities, providing free entertainment to more 
than 5,000 spectators. This is proving a great way to 
bring families and communities together and to convey 
cultural values in an engaging and amusing way.

Australia
Our community goal in Australia is to make a valued 
difference to the social wellbeing, nutritional health and 
sustainability of the communities that support our business. 
Throughout the year, we contributed over AUD60,000 
to more than 30 community organisations where our 
sites operate. This included helping to build school 
vegetable gardens, supporting sports, community and 
surf lifesaving clubs, and providing funds to help purchase 
essential equipment for emergency response services. 

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   57 

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SUSTAINABILITY AND  
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

STOCK EXCLUDED
In addition to the 24,410 
kilometres, our farmers have 
also fenced more than 10,000 
kilometres of intermittent  
streams to further protect  
the environment.

SUPPLY 
FONTERRA 
Through Supply  
Fonterra we are  
helping our farmers 
build on their good 
practices.

Food banks
In New Zealand this year, we were awarded a ‘Valued 
Partner’ trophy by The Salvation Army in recognition of our 
five year partnership, one of only eight such trophies ever 
presented. In addition to donating short-dated product, our 
staff help with the Christmas food bank drive and we’ve even 
provided compost from our recycle lab to the community 
gardens where The Salvation Army grow vegetables for their 
food parcels. In the Auckland region, we also support five 
other food banks including the Auckland City Mission. 

We also contribute to Foodbank, Australia’s largest 
food relief organisation and we are a partner of the 
Fresh Milk Collaborative Supply Programme which 
supplies fresh milk to disadvantaged Australians. 

6  This includes approximately 161km of waterways and 19 stock crossing points with dispensations, 
primarily due to a management plan achieving stock exclusion through a temporary or 
natural barrier. Taranaki farms are excluded from these statistics as they are covered by the 
Regional Council programme. 99 per cent of all other farms have been mapped.

7  Waterways that are not present all year, or are too small to be included under the target.
8  Management of the strip of land adjacent to the waterways including suitable planting to 

reduce erosion, capture nutrients and provide shade.

9  OVERSEER® is owned by the Ministry for Primary Industries, the Fertiliser Association and 

AgResearch.

58   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

SUSTAINABLE FARMING

New Zealand
Our farmers consider themselves stewards of the land and, 
even when times are tough, they continue to demonstrate their 
commitment to building an industry that’s sustainable and resilient.

Supply Fonterra
Through Supply Fonterra in New Zealand, we are helping our 
farmers build on their existing good practices. Each year, every 
farm is assessed by a third party against defined environmental, 
food safety and animal welfare criteria. Results continue to 
demonstrate the real progress and investment made by our 
farmers. Over the 2015/16 season, less than four per cent of 
assessments resulted in a referral to our Sustainable Dairy 
Advisors for anything greater than minor support. 

In New Zealand we are also signatories to the Sustainable 
Dairying: Water Accord, an industry-wide commitment to 
improve environmental performance on dairy farms with 
respect to water. 

Waterway Management
Our farmers are committed to having all stock excluded from 
all defined waterways by 31 May 2017. At the end of May 2016, 
97.4 per cent (24,410 kilometres) of defined waterways on 
mapped farms were stock-excluded6, and 99.5 per cent of 
regular water crossings have a bridge or culvert. The total 
distance excluded is up and, although the percentage is 
down by 0.7 per cent due to farm changes, our farmers have 
effectively delivered on this target and we are transitioning to 
an annual verification process. 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

NITROGEN  MANAGEMENT  PARTICIPATION

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0

86%

76%

59%

34%

2013

2014

2015

2016

NITROGEN  
MANAGEMENT
PARTICIPATION
86 per cent of our 
farmers completed  
an assessment.

GPS  
MAPPING
New software  
helps our farmers 
plan and  
track progress  
on riparian 
management. 

In addition to the 24,410 kilometres, our farmers have 
also fenced more than 10, 000 kilometres of intermittent 
streams7 to further protect the environment. 

With this information potential improvements can be 
identified and analysed for use in the coming season, to reduce 
the impact on the environment and lower on-farm costs. 

We are now working towards a target of all farmers having 
a documented riparian management8 plan by 2020, and in 
October 2015, we launched a service to help our farmers 
achieve this. Using newly created software, our Sustainable 
Dairying Advisors work with farmers to plan and track 
progress on riparian management, using GPS mapping. 
Over time the progress made can be recorded and updated.

Water-use management
Our farmers rely on water to ensure good hygiene in the farm 
dairy, to provide drinking water for the animals and for growing 
pasture. To manage water-use responsibly it is important 
that farmers know how much they are using. Our target 
is for 85 per cent of farmers to have water meters on their 
farms by 2020 and 50 per cent have achieved this already. 

Nitrogen management
Our farmers are working to reduce the risk of nitrogen 
leaching into waterways via surface and ground water, 
through nutrient management. In the past year, we have 
continued to see growing participation from our farmers, 
taking the time to record and provide detailed information 
about their farming operations during the year. We then 
produce individual farm reports using the Overseer® tool9 to 
detail leaching risk, conversion efficiency, and to let farmers 
compare their performance with other farms in their region. 

This year, 86 per cent of our farmers completed an 
assessment, up from 76 per cent in the 2014/15 season 
and, while some farmers are yet to do this, it demonstrates 
a continued commitment even in tough times. 

Carbon footprint of New Zealand milk
The 2014/15 estimate of greenhouse gas emissions for 
New Zealand milk for the full lifecycle to the farm gate 
stage was 0.89 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per 
kilogram of fat-and-protein-corrected milk (kg CO2-e/kg 
FPCM), or 11.6 kilograms of carbon dioxide equivalent per 
kilogram of milk solids (kg CO2-e/kg MS). This is a four per 
cent decrease from our 2009/10 season, with the reduction 
primarily associated with improved productivity per cow. 

Australia
We are a member of the Australian Dairy Industry Council 
(ADIC) and actively support the ADIC Sustainability 
Framework. Through Fonterra’s SupportCrew™ in Australia 
we make a team of specialists available to our farmers to help 
them identify and implement improvements that increase 
farm profitability and reduce environmental impacts.

Since launching in 2013, SupportCrew™ has implemented 
over 320 sustainability projects, primarily improving nutrient 
management, soil health and efficiency projects for water 
or energy.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   59 

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SUSTAINABILITY AND  
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China

Alaska

New Zealand

SILT TRAPS 
Silt traps allow 
sediment to fall 
from water before 
entering lakes.

12,000km

Godwits fly about 
12,000km from 
New Zealand to 
Alaska via China.

To deliver these projects, farmers’ investments have been 
supported by a number of agencies. NRM North and 
Melbourne Water are helping with projects to improve water 
quality, and the Australian Government’s Carbon Farming 
Futures programme helps with emissions reductions.

Living Water – partnerships in action
Living Water is our 10-year partnership with the Department 
of Conservation (DOC), working with dairy farmers, iwi, 
_
hapu
, conservation and other community groups to 
demonstrate how dairy farming can operate as part of healthy 
ecosystems. Established in 2013, Living Water focuses on 
five sensitive water catchments where dairy farming exists. 
Proven solutions from the work become exemplars to help 
enhance performance on farms in other catchments across 
the country. Projects are occurring in all five catchments, 
with the following examples of activities this year.

We have completed 20 detailed biodiversity assessments 
on dairy farms across the five catchments. These 
assessments identify key habitats where our farmers 
can prioritise activities to enhance biodiversity. We are 
now supporting farmers to progress improvements.

An agreement was signed between DOC and the State 
Forestry Administration of China to protect, manage and 
restore wetlands where migratory birds feed. The coastal 
_
korokoro/Miranda provides a seasonal home for 
wetland at Pu
many shorebirds. Among these are red knots and bar-tailed 
godwits, which fly around 12,000 kilometres to their breeding 
grounds landing in China to refuel on the way. Through Living 
Water, our farmers are helping to protect the habitat for these 
birds in New Zealand.

USEFUL FACT 
Through Living Water alone, more 
than 72,000 native shrubs and trees 
have been planted this year.

Peat lakes are globally rare ecosystems and this year we have 
created silt traps on two of the lakes in the Waikato. Placed 
where major drains enter the lakes, the silt traps slow water 
flow allowing sediment to fall naturally from the water rather 
than entering and building up on the lake floor.

60   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

 
 
 
 
 
 
FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

HEALTHY COWS 
Healthy, well-cared-for 
animals are vital to producing 
safe, high-quality milk and we 
are committed to continuously 
improving animal health and welfare 
outcomes.

Protecting biodiversity
Fonterra is committed to working collaboratively 
with communities and farmers to protect biodiversity 
and to contribute to natural habitat restoration. 

In consultation with key supply partners and Greenpeace, 
we have developed a new standard for sourcing palm products 
to further reduce the risk of deforestation. The standard 
commits Fonterra to purchasing only segregated palm oil, 
and for our suppliers to have plans in place for full traceability 
to plantation for palm oil and palm kernel extract by 2018.

Work has started under the new partnership with the NEXT 
Foundation, formed in 2015 together with four other dairy 
companies, to support the goal of Zero Invasive Predators in 
New Zealand. Pests such as rats, possums and stoats prey on 
native species and kill an estimated 25 million native birds 
each year. The investment of $3 million over two years by the 
dairy industry is targeted at accelerating the development 
of new technologies and methods of pest control. 

In July this year, the Government added further strength to 
this work by formally adopting a target to eradicate all pest 
predators that threaten New Zealand’s native birds by 2050. 

Animal health and welfare
Fonterra is committed to managing animals responsibly, 
partnering with our farmers to support the adoption of 
good management practices on farm that continuously 
improve animal health and welfare outcomes and eliminate 
practices that contravene the internationally recognised 
‘Five Freedoms’10.

In New Zealand, ensuring good animal health and welfare 
on our farms is achieved through a combination of 
regulatory, industry bodies and Fonterra-specific activities. 
Nationally, we have animal welfare regulations which 
have been internationally recognised by World Animal 
Protection as A-rated but, aligned with our support of the 
Dairy Sustainability Framework, our focus in New Zealand 
is very much one of continuous improvement.

10  Freedom from hunger or thirst; freedom from discomfort by providing an appropriate 
environment; freedom from pain, injury or disease by ensuring rapid diagnosis and 
treatment; freedom to express normal behaviour by providing sufficient space, proper 
facilities and the company of the animal’s own kind; freedom from fear and distress by 
ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid physical and mental suffering.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   61 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

SUSTAINABILITY AND  
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

ENERGY AWARDS
Our Energy Manager 
Linda Thompson 
won Young Energy 
Professional of the Year.

ENERGY 
RECOVERY 
At Pahiatua, equipment 
on our new gas fired 
boiler recovered enough 
heat to bring 15 Olympic-
size swimming pools of 
water to the boil.

SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING
Fonterra’s largest manufacturing footprint is in New Zealand, 
with Australia our second largest asset base. Together, this 
represents more than 95 per cent of our raw milk supply.

At the Deloitte Energy Excellence 
Awards, our ‘Project InteGreat’ was 
a finalist in the Large Energy User 
of the Year category.

Climate and energy
We are committed to reducing the intensity11 of energy use 
and greenhouse gas emissions across our business operations 
and moving towards cleaner technologies and energy sources. 

Project InteGreat successfully delivered four new processing 
plants at our Edendale site without needing to install an 
additional coal boiler. This was achieved by implementing 
numerous energy recovery projects within the existing 
plants and designing highly-efficient new plants.

11  ‘Intensity’ is the amount of energy used or greenhouse gas emissions produced per tonne 

of production.

12  Improvement is from a 2003 baseline and applies to New Zealand.

62   |   SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

This project contributes to energy efficiency and avoids 
an estimated 23,500 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent 
(tCO2-e) greenhouse gas emissions per annum. 
During the Pahiatua expansion, we installed a condensing 
economiser on the new gas-fired boiler to enhance heat 
recovery from the stack gases. In its first season this has 
recovered 12,187 gigajoules (GJ) of heat energy – enough to 
bring 15 Olympic-size swimming pools of water to the boil. 

Since we began our energy efficiency programme in 2003, 
we have achieved a reduction in energy intensity of more 
than 16 per cent for our New Zealand operations, against 
our target reduction of 20 per cent by 202012. 

Energy use per tonne of production in New Zealand and 
Australia decreased 1.7 per cent to 8.22 GJ/tonne. Energy 
efficiency continues to be our main focus for greenhouse 
gas reduction but we are also committed to transitioning 
to lower-emission energy sources. 

In 2015/16, the greenhouse gas emission intensity from our 
manufacturing activities reduced 3.1 per cent from 0.608 
tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent per tonne of production 
(tCO2-e/tonne) in 2014/15 to 0.592 tCO2-e/tonne. This reflects 
improved energy intensity, an improving fuel mix and an even 
lower emissions factor for New Zealand electricity due to 
increased renewables. 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

USING  RAIL 
Our use of rail saved an 
estimated 25,000 tonnes 
of CO2 equivalent this year.

We are also a foundation partner with Z Energy, helping 
them to introduce a new biodiesel fuel into New Zealand. 
By committing to use ZBioD in our large fleet of milk 
collection tankers, we not only reduce our emissions, but 
also help make this fuel available to other New Zealanders 
to use in their vehicles. 

Water
Water-use in manufacturing in New Zealand and Australia 
this year increased 1.7 per cent to 14.7 cubic metres of 
water per tonne of production. While there were significant 
water-use reductions at sites such as Pahiatua, Cobden 
and Wynyard, lower milk volumes led to slightly less 
efficient water-use. 

As Fonterra builds new capacity we invest in resource-
efficient plants. At Pahiatua this year we increased 
production by 85 per cent while using less water. This has 
been achieved primarily by capturing and cleaning the 
water evaporated from drying the milk so it can be reused. 

After using water, we also need to dispose of it, minimising 
the impact of the wastewater when we discharge it into 
the environment. 

SUSTAINABLE DISTRIBUTION
We have shipped product quickly after production this year, 
reducing demand for storage. This has allowed us to increase 
the use of our primary storage and distribution network, 
including continuing to increase our use of rail, which reduces 
our carbon footprint as well as road congestion. We increased 
the proportion of freight by rail by more than 10 per cent 
compared to last year. The total volume moved by rail this year 
was equivalent to 184,730 truck movements on road, saving  
an estimated 25,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent  
(tCO2-e) compared to road transport.

USEFUL FACT 
This year at Edendale, in line with our new 
environmental guidelines, we upgraded 
our treatment facilities to turn waste 
nutrients into a fertiliser for farmers.

SUSTAINABILITY AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY   |   63 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

CORPORATE 
GOVERNANCE

CONTENTS

CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 

BOARD OF DIRECTORS 

FONTERRA MANAGEMENT TEAM 

65

72

74

64   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

CORPORATE 
GOVERNANCE

The Board and management of Fonterra 
consider that strong governance plays 
a critical role in the success of our 
Co-operative and are committed to 
achieving the highest standard of corporate 
governance and leadership.
To support this our Board has developed 
governance systems that reflect Fonterra’s 
unique characteristics and requirements as a 
significant New Zealand based co-operative 
competing in the global dairy market.

Fonterra continuously reviews its 
Governance and Representation to ensure 
they reflect best practice for our 
Co-operative. A recommendation to 
enhance Governance and Representation 
has been put to farmer shareholders for 
consideration at a Special Meeting scheduled 
for 12 October 2016. Corporate Governance 
described in this section reflects Fonterra’s 
current Governance and Representation 
structure and practices. 

CHANGES TO THE FONTERRA BOARD
There were several changes to the Fonterra Board during 
the financial year ending 31 July 2016. In November 2015, 
Sir Ralph Norris, an Independent Director, retired and was 
replaced by Mr Clinton Dines. Mr Blue Read was not re-
elected to the Fonterra Board following the November 2015 
Director Elections and Mr Ashley Waugh was elected as a 
Farmer Director. Mr John Waller, an Independent Director, 
subsequently advised that he would be retiring with effect 
from 31 August 2016. 

COMPLIANCE WITH BEST PRACTICE 
GOVERNANCE STANDARDS
The Fonterra Board’s governance framework takes into 
consideration contemporary standards in New Zealand and 
Australia. It incorporates the Corporate Governance in New 
Zealand Principles and Guidelines issued by the Financial 
Markets Authority in December 2014 and the Corporate 
Governance Best Practice Code issued by NZX Limited 
(NZX) for the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market (FSM). These 
are guidelines designed to maximise company performance 
and accountability in the interests of farmer shareholders, 
unitholders and the broader community.

Fonterra complies with the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market 
Corporate Governance Best Practice Code.

We focus on governance in a way 
that promotes: 
 > the interests of our farmer shareholders, unitholders and 

other key stakeholders

 > Fonterra’s Co-operative philosophy, which is largely 
expressed through our Co-operative principles

 > transparency, giving our farmer shareholders, unitholders 

and other stakeholders the information they need to assess 
our performance

 > effective risk management and compliance to ensure that 
Fonterra meets its business objectives and all legal and 
reporting requirements

 > an appropriate balance between the roles and 
responsibilities of the Board and management
 > communication with important stakeholder groups, 

including farmer shareholders, employees, customers, 
unitholders, debt investors, governments and the 
communities Fonterra works in.

   CORPORATE GOVERNANCE    |   65  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

CORPORATE 
GOVERNANCE

Principle 1: Ethical Standards 
Ethics framework
Fonterra expects its Directors, officers and employees to maintain 
high ethical standards. The Board is committed to maintaining 
high ethical standards in all aspects of the business in all parts 
of the world. The Group Ethical Behaviour Policy and the 
Board Charter set out these standards. These documents are 
reviewed and approved annually. 
Fonterra’s Code of Business Conduct – The Way We Work 
– provides practical guidelines on how to apply Fonterra’s 
values in everyday work situations and when interacting with 
customers, farmer shareholders, unitholders, suppliers and the 
wider community. 
The Group Ethical Behaviour Policy, The Way We Work and 
the Board Charter include clear expectations for Directors 
and employees in matters relating to ethical behaviour which 
include acting honestly and all of the matters recommended in 
Principle 1 of the FMA Corporate Governance in New Zealand 
Principles and Guidelines. 
The Group Ethical Behaviour Policy is published in English, 
Sinhala, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese. The Way We Work 
is published in English, Spanish, Chinese and Portuguese, to 
facilitate its accessibility to Fonterra’s global employee base. 
The document has been written in simple, straightforward 
language and is available to all employees on both Fonterra’s 
internal website and www.fonterra.com.
An independently run telephone, e-mail and web-based 
Hotline provides individuals with a confidential channel to 
raise ethical issues. In the 2016 financial year, 20 calls were 
raised globally with the Hotline. 
All were fully investigated by the Human Resources and 
Internal Audit teams and appropriate action taken, including 
managing issues through other HR processes. 
Employee training is provided annually on both the Group 
Ethical Behaviour Policy and The Way We Work. Individuals 
are assessed to ensure understanding of group policies and an 
annual compliance certification process promotes compliance. 

Principle 2: Board Composition 
and Performance
Our Board
Fonterra‘s Constitution provides for not more than 13 directors 
and sets out how they are appointed. 
In accordance with the Constitution, not more than nine 
Directors are elected by farmer shareholders from the 
shareholder base, and not more than four Directors are 
appointed by the Board. The People, Culture and Safety 
Committee oversees the process for identifying and 
recommending potential Appointed Directors, and makes 
appropriate recommendations to the Board. The Board of the 
Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund is also consulted in relation to the 
appointment of Appointed Directors. 

66   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

Appointed Directors are selected to enable the Board to access 
a full complement of skills and competencies needed to lead 
an enterprise of Fonterra’s size, sophistication and complexity. 
They bring to the Board perspectives, experience and skills to 
augment the direct industry knowledge and other expertise 
provided by Farmer Directors. 
The Board considers it important that there is a good balance 
of experience on the Board. To help achieve this, the Board 
has developed, and regularly reviews, a Skills Matrix which is 
used when appointing Independent Directors and is provided 
to potential candidates as part of the Farmer Director election 
process. There is also a non-mandatory formal assessment 
panel for candidates in the Farmer Director elections. The 
panel assesses the capability of candidates and then shares 
the outcome with farmer shareholders prior to voting. 
Farmer Directors must be qualified as farmer shareholders 
under section 12.3 of the Constitution and are therefore not 
considered Independent Directors.
The Chief Executive Officer does not serve on the Fonterra Board.

Director independence
The rules of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market require 
Fonterra to have a minimum of two Independent Directors or 
if there are eight or more Directors, three or one-third of the 
total number of Directors of Fonterra, whichever is greater. 
With Fonterra’s current Board of thirteen Directors, four must 
be Independent Directors. 
Fonterra has been granted a waiver from Fonterra Shareholders’ 
Market Rule 3.2.1(c) until the earlier of 30 November 2016 or 
the appointment of a new Independent Director. Under the 
terms of the waiver the Fonterra Board will have no less than 
three Independent Directors until the appointment of a new 
Independent Director to replace Mr John Waller. 
In order to be an Independent Director, a director must not be an 
executive officer of Fonterra, or have a ‘disqualifying relationship’. 
A Director has a disqualifying relationship where he or she 
has a direct or indirect interest or relationship that could 
reasonably influence, in a material way, the Director’s decisions 
in relation to Fonterra. The FSM Rules contain specific 
examples of what may give rise to a disqualifying relationship. 
Appointed Directors cannot be shareholders and are expected 
to maintain independence for the length of their term. 
At 31 July 2016, Clinton Dines, Simon Israel, David Jackson, 
and John Waller each did not have (and continue not to have) 
any disqualifying relationship in relation to Fonterra and were 
therefore Independent Directors. 
The Board has determined that Clinton Dines, Simon Israel, 
David Jackson and John Waller (being the Directors appointed 
by the Board in accordance with Fonterra’s Constitution) are 
Independent Directors under the FSM Rules as at 31 July 2016. 
John Waller has subsequently resigned from the Fonterra 
Board with effect from 31 August 2016.

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

John Wilson, who is a Farmer Director, is the Board-elected 
Chairperson. Under Fonterra’s Constitution, the Board 
Chairperson must be a Farmer Director. Following good 
governance, the Chairperson and Chief Executive roles at 
Fonterra are not exercised by the same individual.

Board Charter 
The Board Charter, which sets out the responsibilities, roles 
and obligations of the Board and Directors is reviewed annually 
and was last approved by the Board in August 2015. The 
Board Charter and the Charters of the Board Committees are 
available on www.fonterra.com. 
The Board Charter contains principles in relation to the Board 
composition, tenure of Directors, the Chairman’s election and 
role, the Board’s interaction with management and Incident 
Management engagement protocols. In addition, the Board 
Charter contains details of the delegation of authority to 
management, the Board’s procedures, the training provided 
to Directors and the process for assessing the Board’s 
performance. 

Board meetings
The Board meets formally at least seven times a year and has 
regular and ad hoc teleconferences to ensure the Board is 
kept informed, and to deal with specific issues as they arise. 
Between full Board meetings, the Board uses committees to 
advance its work programme and to enhance the efficiency 
and effectiveness of its decision making.

Information for the Board
It is important that all members of the Board are appropriately 
informed of the Group’s activities.
Directors are supplied with detailed monthly performance 
reports and analysis in advance of all Board meetings, together 
with papers on any significant commercial initiatives, and 
information on the Group’s competitive position, industry 
updates and general economic indicators.
The Directors also make a point of meeting away from head 
office on a semi-regular basis so that they can broaden their 
understanding of the business through direct contact with 
managers and customers. Directors regularly visit key markets 
to gain a better understanding of the global dairy market.

Director Training
Following appointment to the Board, Directors undertake 
an induction programme to familiarise themselves with the 
Group. Areas covered include:
• business strategy and planning
• an overview of key financial metrics to monitor business 

performance

• an overview of material areas of the Fonterra business, 

including through meetings with key executives

• the Fonterra Constitution and other governance systems.

Directors are expected to keep themselves abreast of changes 
and trends in the business and in Fonterra’s environment 
and markets, and trends in the economic, political, social and 
legal climate generally. As a group the Board holds several 
workshops on relevant subjects each year, and Directors are 
also expected to keep up to date with governance issues.

Nomination Committee
The People, Culture and Safety Committee oversees the process 
for appointments to the Board. To the extent the Board is 
responsible for appointing Directors, the People, Culture and 
Safety Committee satisfies the role of a nomination committee.

Performance assessment
Directors formally assess the performance of the Board as 
a whole each year. A regular programme of peer review of 
individual Directors also occurs. The Shareholders’ Council 
reviews the Board’s Statement of Intentions against the 
performance and operation of the Fonterra Group and 
reports on this to farmer shareholders annually. The Board is 
responsible for reviewing the Chief Executive’s performance.

Independent professional advice
Any Director of the Board is entitled to seek independent 
professional advice relating to the affairs of Fonterra or to his 
or her other responsibilities as a Director. Fonterra will pay the 
reasonable cost of independent professional advice.

Diversity and Inclusion Policy
Fonterra has a Board approved People Management Policy that 
encompasses the Group’s policy on diversity and inclusion. 
Fonterra is committed to creating and maintaining an 
environment where people with diverse experiences and ways 
of thinking are encouraged and enabled. Fonterra recognises 
that diversity is not solely a matter of compliance; it means 
respecting differences and making those differences count. The 
People Management Policy requires that all policies, standards 
and guidelines support the intent of diversity and inclusion. 
Fonterra proactively identifies and maximises local talent pools 
to improve participation. This includes increasing gender ratios 
in leadership, and access for people with disabilities, and those 
representing different cultures and ethnicities. Every manager 
and employee , through Fonterra’s culture value and people 
frameworks, will be supported and expected to make decisions 
every day that align with Fonterra’s intent relating to diversity 
and inclusion. 
As at 31 July 2016, the gender composition of the Board 
comprised 11 male directors and two female Directors (2015: 
2 of 13). The nine Farmer Directors on the Fonterra Board are 
elected by postal ballot of the farmer shareholders conducted 
by the Shareholders’ Council, and the four Appointed Directors 
are appointed by the Board and ratified by farmer shareholders. 
Of eight officers who reported directly to the Chief Executive 
at 31 July 2016, three were female (2015: 4 of 16).

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Principle 3: Board Committees
Fonterra has a number of permanent Board Committees, 
as detailed in the table below. Additional Board Committees 
will be formed when it is efficient or necessary to facilitate 
effective decision-making by providing for a sub-group of 
Directors to focus on particular areas or issues and to develop 
recommendations to the full Board. 

The Fonterra Board Committees have a standard Terms of 
Reference and each committee has a charter, which defines the 
scope and responsibilities of that committee and is approved 
by the Board annually. The minutes for each of the Board 
committees’ meetings are supplied to the Board for review.

COMMITTEE OR GROUP  MEMBERSHIP AS AT 31 JULY 2016

PURPOSE

David Jackson (Chair)
Ian Farrelly
Leonie Guiney

Michael Spaans
John Waller
Ashley Waugh

To assist the Board in fulfilling its governance responsibilities in 
relation to Fonterra’s financial reporting, audit activities, treasury 
matters, financial risk management and internal control frameworks.

Audit and Finance 
Committee 

People, Culture and 
Safety Committee 

John Wilson (Chair)
Ian Farrelly
John Monaghan

Simon Israel
Clinton Dines
David Jackson (observer)

Co-operative Relations 
Committee 

John Monaghan (Chair)
Malcolm Bailey
David MacLeod

Leonie Guiney
Ashley Waugh
Michael Spaans

Risk Committee 

Nicola Shadbolt (Chair)
Malcolm Bailey
David Jackson

David MacLeod
John Waller

To assist the Board in fulfilling its governance responsibilities 
in relation to the recruitment, retention, remuneration and 
development of directors, executives and other employees, 
and to promote a safe and healthy working environment.

To assist the Board in fulfilling its governance responsibilities 
in relation to the supply of milk from Fonterra suppliers, and 
to seek to resolve supplier complaints before reference to the 
Milk Commissioner.

To assist the Board in fulfilling its corporate governance 
responsibilities relating to Fonterra’s management of key 
enterprise wide risks. This includes strategic and operational risks, 
through Fonterra’s risk management framework, the behaviours 
required of its people and its guidelines, policies and processes for 
monitoring and mitigating enterprise-wide risks.

Board and Committee attendance

BOARD

AFC

John Wilson

Malcolm Bailey

Clinton Dines

Ian Farrelly

Simon Israel

Leonie Guiney

David Jackson

David MacLeod

John Monaghan

Sir Ralph Norris

Blue Read

Nicola Shadbolt

Michael Spaans

John Waller

Ashley Waugh

TOTAL MEETINGS 

Directors’ attendances may reflect serving on committees for only part of the year.
Directors’ attendances are noted for those Board meetings held during their tenure.

68   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

19/19

17/19

10/13

19/19

17/19

19/19

17/19

18/19

19/19

3/6

6/6

18/19

19/19

16/16

13/13

19

–

–

–

6/6

–

6/6

6/6

–

–

–

–

2/3

4/6

6/6

3/3

6

PCS

5/5

–

3/3

5/5

5/5

–

5/5

–

5/5

1/2

–

–

–

–

–

5

CRC

–

5/6

–

–

–

3/3

–

6/6

6/6

–

2/2

–

6/6

–

3/3

6

RC

–

4/4

–

3/3

–

3/3

4/4

1/1

–

–

1/2

1/1

–

3/3

–

4

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

Audit and Finance Committee
There is an established Audit and Finance Committee as 
described on the previous page. 
The Audit and Finance Committee comprises two Appointed 
Directors and four Farmer Directors. The committee is chaired 
by David Jackson, who is an Independent Director and a Fellow 
of the New Zealand Institute of Chartered Accountants. 

Principle 4: Reporting and Disclosure
Fonterra is committed to high standards of reporting and 
disclosure. The Board has overall responsibility for the 
financial statements and the Audit and Finance Committee, 
as described above, plays an important role in overseeing the 
financial reporting processes used by management. 

Financial Reporting 
The Audit and Finance Committee reviews the financial 
statements and recommends approval of the financial 
statements to the Board. The Committee considers whether 
the financial statements are complete, whether they reflect 
appropriate accounting policies, any major judgement areas, 
any legal matters that may significantly impact the financial 
statements and any complex transactions. 
The CEO and CFO provide the Board with management 
representations that the Fonterra financial statements give a true 
and fair view, in all material respects, of Fonterra’s financial position 
and financial performance for each financial reporting period. 
The Audit and Finance Committee oversees the Internal Assurance 
function and reviews the annual Internal Audit work plan. Internal 
audits provide assurance to the Board and management that 
the internal control framework is operating effectively. 

Milk Price Panel
The Board has created the Milk Price Panel for the purpose of 
providing assurances as to the governance of the Farmgate 
Milk Price and the proper application of the Farmgate Milk 
Price Manual and the Milk Price Principles. 
The Panel does not determine the Farmgate Milk Price, as this 
is a decision for the Board.
The Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001 (New Zealand) 
requires that the Chair and a majority of the members of the 
Panel (including the Chair) are independent. The Panel consists 
of two Appointed Directors, one Farmer Director and two 
appropriately qualified persons nominated by the Shareholders’ 
Council, at least one of whom must be independent. The Chair 
must be one of the Appointed Director members. The Panel 
is currently chaired by David Jackson. Other Board members 
are Clinton Dines and Michael Spaans. The Shareholders’ 
Council appointees are Patrick Boyle and Bill Donaldson. It 
has been announced that Andrew Wallace will replace Patrick 
Boyle as a Shareholders’ Council appointee on the Panel from 
1 November 2016. The Board confirmed that at 31 July 2016, 
John Waller, David Jackson and Patrick Boyle were considered 
to be Independent Members of this Panel. The Board has 
also confirmed that as at 31 July 2016 Andrew Wallace is an 
Independent appointee to the Panel and that Clinton Dines 
is an Independent Member as at 1 September 2016. 

Continuous Disclosure Regime 
Fonterra is committed to promoting a well-informed and 
efficient market in its shares, units issued by the Fonterra 
Shareholders’ Fund and debt securities. The Board has 
approved a Group Disclosure Policy to ensure compliance 
with the NZX and ASX listing rules regarding disclosure. The 
Group Disclosure Policy governs Fonterra’s communications 
with investors and market participants, and the disclosure of 
information relevant to Fonterra. 

Fonterra has a Disclosure Committee that holds regular 
monthly, and ad hoc meetings required to oversee Fonterra’s 
continuous disclosure obligations. The members of the 
Disclosure Committee are the CEO, CFO, Managing Director 
Corporate Affairs, Director Capital Markets and the Company 
Secretary. The Disclosure Committee has a Charter and has 
responsibility for overseeing Fonterra’s continuous disclosure 
obligations, reviewing, monitoring and implementing the 
Group Disclosure Policy. The Committee maintains a register of 
Continuous Disclosure matters and also ensures a consistent 
and high standard of communication with farmer shareholders, 
investors and market participants on a timely basis.

The Chairman of the Board and the Chairman 
of the Audit and Finance Committee attend the Committee’s 
meetings to review and approve the materials for release 
of the Interim and Annual Reports.

Fonterra and the Manager of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund 
have entered into an arrangement to co-operate with each 
other and take all steps reasonably required to ensure that 
information to be disclosed by either of them under the listing 
rules of the FSM, the NZSX or the ASX (as the case may be) is 
disclosed simultaneously to the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market, 
the NZX Main Board and ASX. It is intended that where NZX, 
as market operator of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market, 
receives information provided by Fonterra for release under 
the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market, NZX will simultaneously 
release the information under the code relating to the 
Fund. This process is intended to be automatic. Fonterra 
simultaneously discloses relevant information on ASX.

Securities Trading Policy
Fonterra has adopted a Securities Trading Policy that details 
the rules for trading in units, shares, bonds and milk price 
futures. The policy applies to Directors, officers, employees 
and contractors of Fonterra and members of the Shareholders’ 
Council and Milk Price Panel, and is additional to legal 
prohibitions on insider trading in New Zealand and Australia. 
All Directors comply with the legislative requirements for 
disclosing interests and with the Securities Trading Policy, which 
regulates both Directors and management in their personal 
dealings with Fonterra securities and those of related companies.

The Securities Trading Policy is available, along with other key 
Group Policies on www.fonterra.com.

   CORPORATE GOVERNANCE    |   69  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

CORPORATE 
GOVERNANCE

Principle 5: Remuneration
Remuneration of Directors
Fonterra’s remuneration framework is designed to attract, retain 
and motivate high quality Directors and senior management. 
The Constitution modifies the discretion of the Board to set 
remuneration of Directors. In accordance with the Constitution, 
farmer shareholders elect an independent committee of six 
farmer shareholders to consider and make recommendations to 
the Annual Meeting on Farmer Director remuneration.
The members of the Directors’ Remuneration Committee as at 31 
July 2016 were David Gasquoine (Chair), Murray Holdaway, Scott 
Montgomerie, Stephen Silcock, Philip Wilson and Gerard Wolvers.
The Board has full discretion over the remuneration of 
Appointed Directors. The details of the Directors’ remuneration 
are contained on page 45 of the Annual Financial Results for 
the year ended 31 July 2016. 
The Remuneration framework for management is outlined on page 
49 of the Annual Financial Results for the year ended 31 July 2016. 

Principle 6: Risk Management
Risk management
There is an established Risk Committee as described 
previously. The Audit and Finance Committee oversee financial 
risk management and the Risk Committee covers all other 
aspects of risk including ensuring a strong risk management 
culture in Fonterra.
The Risk Committee comprises two Appointed Directors and 
three Farmer Directors. The Committee is chaired by Professor 
Nicola Shadbolt, who is a Farmer Director. It is a requirement 
that the Chairman of the Audit and Finance Committee is also 
a member of the Risk Committee.
Fonterra has a global Risk Management Policy, the purpose of 
which is to embed a risk management capability within Fonterra 
to provide a consistent method for the identification, assessment, 
control, monitoring and reporting of risks faced by the organisation. 
The policy recognises that risk represents both opportunity and 
threat and that risk is an integral part of business.
Fonterra’s tolerance for risk is defined in the Risk Management 
Framework which requires the reporting of material risks 
as appropriate to the Fonterra Management Team, the Risk 
Committee and the Board.
Fonterra’s Risk Management Policy is aligned with the 
ISO31000 Risk Management Standard. The Policy is 
supported by a detailed Group Risk Management Standard 
and Guidelines that define the mandatory requirements 
relating to risk management for businesses. The Risk 
Management Policy provides a consistent methodology and 
approach for the execution of these mandatory requirements 
by specifying processes for:
• identifying existing and potential risks that may impact upon 

business objectives

• assessing the consequence and likelihood of risks identified
• identifying key controls in place to address risks

70   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

• evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of controls 

in mitigating risks to an acceptable level

• generating action plans to improve controls where required
• regularly monitoring risks and tracking progress against 

action plans

Risk reporting to the Board for review occurs on a regular 
basis. The Board materials include risk reporting on Health 
and Safety and Food Safety and Quality risks at every meeting. 
The regular schedule of Board reporting includes Fonterra’s 
top risks, and changes in risks which also encompasses 
emerging risk areas. This process is supported by a formal 
evaluation of the top risks along with a quarterly review and 
update of this risk assessment material. A summary of the 
results of this assessment is reported to the Risk Committee.
Fonterra’s Internal Audit function is accountable for formally 
reviewing the effectiveness of the Group’s risk management 
processes, including using the outputs of risk assessments to 
compile its audit plan and performing independent validation 
of the internal control environment.

Principle 7: Auditors 
The Audit and Finance Committee is responsible for making 
recommendations to the Board regarding the appointment 
of the external auditor. The auditor is appointed by the 
shareholders at the Annual Meeting.
The Audit and Finance Committee reviews the independence 
of the auditor and reviews the external audit fees, the terms of 
engagement and annual audit plan. 
Fonterra encourages the rotation of the lead external audit partner 
in the relationship in accordance with best practice. Fonterra has a 
Group Audit Independence Policy, for certain activities the auditor 
may undertake for the Group. This policy is prescriptive as to the 
types of activities that the auditor may undertake, those the auditor 
may only undertake with the approval of the Audit and Finance 
Committee, and the types of activities that are not permitted. 
The Audit and Finance Committee will not approve the auditor 
performing any tasks that have the potential to create a 
conflict except in exceptional circumstances and then only if 
appropriate safeguards are in place.
The Audit and Finance Committee Chairman communicates 
regularly with the external auditor and the Audit and 
Finance Committee meet with the external auditor without 
management at least annually. 
The fees paid to Fonterra’s auditor, PricewaterhouseCoopers 
are detailed in Note 4 to the financial statements contained in 
the Annual Report.

Principle 8: Shareholder Relations
Shareholders’ Council
One of the Board’s most important relationships is with the 
Shareholders’ Council. The Council, Fonterra’s representative 
body, which is established under the Fonterra Constitution, 
is independent of the Board and comprises 35 farmer 
shareholders elected as councillors, representing 35 wards 

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

across New Zealand. The Shareholders’ Council was created 
to be the guardian of the Co-operative Principles which 
apply to the cornerstone activities of the Co-operative. The 
functions of the Council are set out in the Constitution. The 
Council reviews the Board’s statement of intentions for the 
performance and operations of the Group and publishes an 
annual report, commenting on these matters. 
The Council, Board and management have a working interface 
document which sets out the principles to facilitate the working 
partnership between the Board and the Council and the way 
operational issues will be dealt with by the Board and the Council.
The working interface document is available on the Farm 
Source website.
The Council and the Board meet regularly, as do the 
Chairs of the Board and the Council and the Chairs of their 
respective Committees.

Farmer communications
Fonterra is committed to maintaining and improving dialogue 
with our farmer shareholder base to ensure that the objectives 
of both the Group and farmer shareholders are understood. 
An extensive farmer shareholder and supplier relations 
programme is managed by the Chief Operating Officer, Farm 
Source. Channels for electronic communication are provided 
through the fonterra.com and Fonterra Farm Source websites 
and the My Co-op phone application.
Fonterra’s communications with farmer shareholders include 
regular face-to-face meetings, Sky Broadcasts, a regular 
monthly Global Dairy Update, Farm Source publication and a 
regular Chairman’s email. As described above, Fonterra releases 
all material information to the relevant stock exchanges and 
complies with the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market, NZX and 
ASX Listing Rules with respect to shareholder communications.

Farmer meetings
A schedule of regular meetings with farmer shareholders, 
sharemilkers and farm workers is held across the country at 
least twice each year. Often these are run in conjunction with 
the Shareholders’ Council, Area Managers and the Fonterra 
Farmer Network.
Directors also regularly attend other farmer meetings during 
the year on specific topics.
In addition, the Board consults with farmer shareholders on 
specific issues as they arise.

Fonterra.com and Farm Source
Presentations on the development of the business are 
available on the fonterra.com website. The Group also uses 
digital media, email alerts, including regular updates from the 
Chairman and regular farmer shareholder updates. 
The Farm Source website enables Fonterra shareholders, their 
employees and business partners to transact online with 
Fonterra and access information and tools on milk production 
and quality, online statements and up-to-the-minute news and 
weather. This site is also used to provide information on the 
business to farmer shareholders.

Annual Meeting
The Board views the Annual Meeting of farmer shareholders, 
which is held at a different venue around New Zealand each 
year, as an opportunity to communicate directly with farmer 
shareholders and ensures that adequate time is provided at 
these meetings for farmer shareholders to raise issues or ask 
questions from the floor. 

Notices of meetings are sent to farmer shareholders at least 10 
working days before the meeting.

The Fonterra Constitution describes the process whereby 
a farmer shareholder can raise a proposal for discussion or 
resolution at the next meeting of farmer shareholders at which 
the farmer shareholder is entitled to vote.

Annual Report
The Group’s Annual Report including financial statements and 
an annual review, together with the half-year reports and other 
material announcements, are designed to present a balanced 
and clear view of Fonterra’s activities and prospects and are 
available on fonterra.com.

Other Disclosures
Information on the Group’s performance, annual and half-
year financial results, director changes, and other significant 
matters, is advised to the market through the NZX and ASX 
in accordance with the Disclosure Policy. Farmer shareholders 
and other stakeholders receive regular updates on these 
and other issues relevant to them and all media and market 
releases are available on fonterra.com.

Principle 9: Stakeholder Interests
The Board has policies in place for the governance and 
management of Fonterra’s relationships with key stakeholders. 
The Co-operative Relations Committee of the Board 
specifically provides governance oversight of the management 
of Fonterra’s relationships with key external stakeholders in 
New Zealand and all other key markets, including, but not 
limited to, its government, non-government and community 
relationships. This includes oversight of Fonterra’s community 
initiatives in support of its social responsibility and identity 
objectives. Examples of this activity are detailed in the social 
responsibility reporting section of this report. Of particular 
significance are the approaches to relationships with the 
Shareholder’s Council, farmer shareholders and farmer 
suppliers. These approaches are detailed at Principle Eight.

FSM Waivers
On 31 August 2016 NZX Regulation granted a waiver to 
Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited from the Fonterra 
Shareholders’ Market Rule 3.2.1(c) until the earlier of 30 
November 2016 or the appointment of a new Independent 
Director. Under the terms of the waiver the Fonterra Co-
operative Group Limited Board will have no less than three 
Independent Directors until the appointment of a new 
Independent Director to replace John Waller. 

   CORPORATE GOVERNANCE    |   71  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

BOARD OF 
DIRECTORS

1

2

3

4

5

72   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

1.  JOHN WILSON
2.  MALCOLM BAILEY
3.  CLINTON DINES
4.  IAN FARRELLY
5.  LEONIE GUINEY 
6.  SIMON ISRAEL
7.  DAVID JACKSON

8.  DAVID MACLEOD
9.  JOHN MONAGHAN
10. NICOLA SHADBOLT
11.  MICHAEL SPAANS

12. JOHN WALLER ONZM

13.  ASHLEY WAUGH

1. JOHN WILSON
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Chairman, 
and Chair of the People, Culture and Safety Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2003, last re-elected 2015 
John Wilson was elected to the Fonterra Board in 
2003 and became Chairman in 2012. Previously 
he served as the inaugural Chairman of the 
Fonterra Shareholders’ Council. John is a director 
of Turners & Growers Limited and he serves 
on the Executive Board of the New Zealand 
China Council. He is a chartered member of 
the Institute of Directors in New Zealand. 
John lives on his dairy farm near Te Awamutu 
and jointly owns a dairy farming business 
based near Geraldine, South Canterbury.

B.Agr.Sc

2. MALCOLM BAILEY
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Chair of the Risk Committee until May 2016 and Member 
of the Co-operative Relations Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2004, last re-elected 2013 
Malcolm Bailey was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2004. Malcolm represents Fonterra 
on the Dairy Companies Association of New 
Zealand. He is a director of Westpac New 
Zealand Limited, Hopkins Farming Group 
Limited and Gleneig Holdings Limited. He 
is also the Independent Chair of the Red 
Meat Profit Partnership and New Zealand 
International Business Forum. Malcolm’s 
dairy farming interests are as a shareholder in 
Hopkins Farming Group Limited. 

B.Agr.Econ

3. CLINTON DINES
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Appointed Director, Member of 
the People, Culture and Safety Committee and Milk Price Panel
TERM OF OFFICE Appointed 2015 
Clinton was appointed to the Fonterra Board 
in 2015. Clinton lived and worked in China for 
36 years, 21 of which were as President of BHP 
Billiton’s China business. He has extensive 
experience as an executive in China and Asia 
businesses and has had an active career as a 
non-executive director, currently serving on 
the Boards of Aurecon, North Queensland 
Airports and Zanaga Iron Ore. Clinton was 
Executive Chairman of Caledonia Asia from 
2010 to 2013, a venture investment group in 
Asia, and is a Partner in Moreton Bay Partners, 
a strategic advisory firm based in Brisbane. He 
is an Adjunct Professor at Griffith University’s 
Asia Institute and is a Member of the Griffith 
University Council.

BA (Modern Asian Studies, Griffith), CIM, INSEAD 

 
4. IAN FARRELLY
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Member of the Audit and Finance Committee and the 
People, Culture and Safety Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2007, last re-elected 2013 
Ian Farrelly was elected to the Fonterra Board 
in 2007. Ian had a 20-year career in the banking 
industry including 15 years as head of ASB’s 
Rural Division. Ian serves on the Board of 
the Manager of the Fonterra Shareholders’ 
Fund and is also a director of First Mortgage 
Managers Limited, Spectrum Dairies Limited, 
Fortuna Group Limited and Waikato Stud. 
He owns and runs a 500-hectare 10,000 
animal calf-rearing farm in Te Awamutu and 
has ownership interests in dairy farms in 
Canterbury and the Waikato. 

B.Agr

5. LEONIE GUINEY 
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Member of the Audit and Finance Committee and the 
Co-operative Relations Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2014
Leonie Guiney was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2014. Leonie has worked in the 
agriculture sector for 25 years in a number 
of positions including as a lecturer of Dairy 
Production at Lincoln University and consultant 
on the BNZ Growth Programme for farmers. 
She has also held roles with Golden Vale Dairy 
Co-operative in Ireland, LIC and FarmRight 
South Island. Leonie was the 2014 winner of the 
low input NZ Dairy Business of the Year and the 
2006 Canterbury Sharemilker of the Year titles. 
Leonie began farming in Canterbury in 2002 
and she is now a director and shareholder of five 
Canterbury farms and Bobby Square Limited.

B.Agr.Sc

6. SIMON ISRAEL
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Appointed Director, 
Member of the People, Culture and Safety Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Appointed 2013 
Simon Israel was appointed to the Fonterra 
Board in 2013. Simon currently chairs Singapore 
Telecommunications Limited and Singapore 
Post Limited and is a Director of CapitaLand, 
one of Asia’s largest real estate companies. 
He was an Executive Director of Temasek 
Holdings for six years and President from 2010 
to 2011. Simon was a director of Fraser & Neave, 
Neptune Orient Lines, Asia Pacific Breweries, 
Griffin Foods and Frucor Beverage Group. He 
had 10 years’ experience in the dairy industry 
with Danone as a Senior Vice President and 
member of the Group Executive Committee. 
He was conferred Knight in the Legion of 
Honour by the French Government in 2007. 

Diploma of Business Studies 

7. DAVID JACKSON
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Appointed Director, 
Chair of the Audit and Finance Committee, 
Member of the Risk Committee and Chair of the Milk Price 
Panel, Observer of the People, Culture and Safety Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Appointed 2007 
David Jackson was appointed to the Fonterra 
Board in 2007. David also serves on the boards 
of Nuplex Industries Limited, Mitre 10 (New 
Zealand) Limited and Tegel Group Holdings 
Limited and was previously Chairman of The 
New Zealand Refining Company Limited. David 
spent more than 30 years with accounting firm 
Ernst & Young in a variety of roles, and served 
as Chairman of the board of management for 
the firm in New Zealand from 1999 to 2002.

M.Com(Hons), FCA, FInstD

8. DAVID MACLEOD
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Member of the Co-operative Relations Committee and 
the Risk Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2011, last re-elected 2014 
David MacLeod was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2011. David also serves on the boards 
of Port Taranaki Limited and A.J. Greaves 
Electrical Limited. He is Chairman of the 
Taranaki Regional Council. David lives near 
Hawera in South Taranaki and is a director 
of P.K.W. Farms GP Limited, one of Fonterra’s 
largest shareholders, and is a shareholder of Far 
South Farms Limited, which owns a dairy farm 
in Southland.

9. JOHN MONAGHAN
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Chair of the Co-operative Relations Committee and 
Member of the People, Culture and Safety Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2008, last re-elected 2014 
John Monaghan was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2008. Prior to joining the Fonterra Board 
John was Chairman of the Fonterra Shareholders’ 
Council for a three-year period. He is also a 
director of Centre Port Limited and Centre 
Port Properties Limited, and is a trustee of the 
Wairarapa Irrigation Trust. John has dairy farming 
interests in the Wairarapa and Otago regions. 

10. NICOLA SHADBOLT
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Chair of the Risk Committee
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2009, last re-elected 2015 
Nicola Shadbolt was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2009. Nicola is a Professor of Farm 
and Agribusiness Management at Massey 
University, serves on the Board of the Manager 
of the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund and 
represents New Zealand in the International 
Farm Comparison Network in Dairying. Nicola 
and her husband live in the Pohangina Valley 
in the Manawatu, which is the base for the five 
farming and forestry equity partnerships they 
run, which include two dairy farms. 

B.Sc(Hons), M.AgrSc(Hons), DipBusStud 
(Accountancy), FNZIPIM (Reg), FAICD

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

11. MICHAEL SPAANS
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Member of the Audit and Finance Committee and the Milk 
Price Panel
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2013
Michael Spaans was elected to the Fonterra 
Board in 2013. He was a member of the 
Fonterra Shareholders’ Council since its 
formation in 2001 until 2008. Michael is 
Chairman of Dairy NZ. He serves on the board 
of ASB Bank Limited and is a director of Shoof 
International Limited. Michael’s family farm is 
in the Waikato near Te Aroha where he milks a 
500-cow herd. 

Graduate Diploma Finance

12. JOHN WALLER ONZM 
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Appointed Director, 
Chair of the Milk Price Panel, Member of the Audit 
and Finance Committee and the Risk Committee 
TERM OF OFFICE Appointed 2009, retired August 2016
John Waller was appointed to the Fonterra Board 
in 2009. He served as Chairman of the Bank 
of New Zealand and as a director of National 
Australia Bank Limited for eight years. John 
serves on the boards of Haydn & Rollett Limited, 
Sky Network Television Limited, Property For 
Industry Limited and Donaghys Limited. He is 
Chairman of the GS Group Limited. John was 
a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers for more 
than 20 years. He was also a member of their 
board and led their advisory practice for many 
years. Mr Waller was made an Officer of the 
New Zealand Order of Merit for services to 
business and the community in 2016.

BCom, FCA

13. ASHLEY WAUGH 
BOARD RESPONSIBILITIES Farmer-elected Director, 
Member of the Audit and Finance Committee and the Co-
operative Relations Committee 
TERM OF OFFICE Elected 2015
Ashley Waugh was elected in 2015. Ashley spent 
ten years with The New Zealand Dairy Board 
followed by eight years with National Foods in 
Australia including the last four years as Chief 
Executive Officer. Ashley serves on the Board of 
Seeka Kiwifruit Industries Limited, Moa Brewing 
Company Limited and the Colonial Motor 
Company Limited. Ashley has shareholding 
interests in Puke Roha Limited in Pokuru. 

BBS

   CORPORATE GOVERNANCE    |   73  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

FONTERRA 
MANAGEMENT 
TEAM

5

6

7

1.  THEO SPIERINGS

2.  LUKAS PARAVICINI

3.  JACQUELINE CHOW

4.  MILES HURRELL

5.  ROBERT SPURWAY

6.  JUDITH SWALES

7.  KELVIN WICKHAM

1. THEO SPIERINGS
Chief Executive Officer
Theo Spierings sets Fonterra’s overall direction 
and leads the Fonterra Management team. He 
is focused on building on Fonterra’s strengths 
and securing future growth for the Co-operative. 
Theo joined Fonterra in 2011, bringing with 
him extensive experience from across the dairy 
industry, particularly in Asia, Latin America, 
Africa, the Middle East and Europe. Theo has 
over 30 years’ experience in the global dairy 
industry in a variety of roles including general 
management, operations and supply chain, 
and sales and marketing positions. He was 
previously the acting CEO of Royal Friesland 
Foods, a Dutch dairy co-operative which, in 
2008, he led through a merger with Campina. 
Before taking up his leadership role at Fonterra, 
Theo ran his own company in the Netherlands 
focusing on corporate strategy, and mergers and 
acquisitions, in fast-moving consumer goods 
(FMCG). Theo holds a Bachelor of Arts in Food 
Technology/Biotechnology and a Master of 
Business Administration.

2. LUKAS PARAVICINI
Chief Financial Officer
Lukas Paravicini joined Fonterra as CFO in 
2013 after 22 years with Nestlé where he 
was General Manager for Nestlé Professional 
Europe. Before this, Lukas held a number of 
senior positions including CFO of Nestlé Brazil, 
Nestlé’s fourth largest market, Vice President 
of Global Business Services and CFO of Nestlé 
Professional and Nestlé’s globally managed 
Out-of-Home business. He has an in-depth 
understanding of dairy and has lived and 
worked in some of Fonterra’s most strategically 
important markets. Lukas holds a business and 
administration degree from the University of 
Zurich, Switzerland, and speaks five languages.

1

2

3

4

74   |    CORPORATE GOVERNANCE

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

7. KELVIN WICKHAM
Chief Operating Officer, NZMP
Kelvin Wickham leads the sales and marketing 
of all Fonterra ingredients globally, delivering 
solutions to our global customers, ensuring 
optimisation of supply and demand, commodity 
price risk management, and championing 
the NZMP™ brand. Kelvin has more than 27 
years’ experience in the dairy industry and has 
played a key role in building markets, customer 
relationships and partnerships. His previous role 
of President Greater China and India focused 
on directing the development of Fonterra’s 
business in these expanding markets, during 
which he oversaw a period of rapid growth. 
Prior to that, Kelvin led Fonterra’s Supplier and 
External Relations team, and was Managing 
Director of Fonterra’s Global Trade overseeing 
the launch of GlobalDairyTrade. From 2005 
to 2007 he was the Director of Sales and 
Operations Planning. Kelvin holds a chemical 
and materials engineering degree, a Master of 
Management and a Diploma of Dairy Science 
and Technology.

   CORPORATE GOVERNANCE    |   75  

3. JACQUELINE CHOW
Chief Operating Officer, Global Consumer 
and Foodservice
Jacqueline heads Fonterra’s Global Consumer 
and Foodservice business unit. Previously, as 
Chief Operating Officer Velocity, she led our 
business transformation to accelerate the 
delivery of strategy and drive a step-change 
in performance. Prior to this, Jacqueline was 
Managing Director Fonterra Global Brands 
and Nutrition, responsible for the group-wide 
consumer brand strategies in marketing, 
innovation, technology and food quality. 
Before joining Fonterra in 2013, Jacqueline was 
Australia and New Zealand General Manager 
for Arnott’s. She has also held executive 
marketing and innovation roles at Campbell’s 
and the Kellogg Company. Jacqueline has 
extensive FMCG and marketing experience 
garnered from a 20-year career in global blue-
chip multinationals. Jacqueline holds a Bachelor 
of Science (First Class Honors) and an MBA in 
International Business Strategy and Finance. 
She is also a graduate of the Australian Institute 
of Company Directors.

4. MILES HURRELL
Chief Operating Officer, Farm Source
Miles Hurrell  heads Fonterra’s global 
Co-operative farming strategy which includes 
farmer services and engagement, milk sourcing 
and the chain of 71 Farm Source™ rural retail 
stores throughout New Zealand. Miles’ 16 years’ 
experience in the dairy industry has spanned 
four continents. In his previous role as General 
Manager Middle East, Africa and CIS he lead 
a period of sustained growth during a time 
of political unrest across the region. He reset 
the African sales strategy and was a director 
of Fonterra’s joint venture with Africa’s largest 
dairy company, Clover Industries Limited. From 
2006-2008 Miles oversaw the streamlining  of 
the Co-operative’s European operations before 
moving to the United States to establish new 
offshore partnerships.  Miles has completed 
management programmes at INSEAD 
(International Executive Development), London 
Business School (Finance) and Kellogg’s North 
Western University (Global Sales).

5. ROBERT SPURWAY
Chief Operating Officer, Global Operations
Robert Spurway joined Fonterra in 2011. As 
Chief Operating Officer, Global Operations, 
Robert leads Fonterra’s global operations 
business and is responsible for the Co-
operative’s manufacturing and supply chain 
operations in New Zealand and around the 
world. In his previous role he was responsible 
for overseeing milk collection, manufacturing 
and logistics for the Co-operative’s New 
Zealand milk supply. Prior to that, he was 
Fonterra’s South Island Regional Operations 
Manager. In this role, he oversaw the greenfield 
development of the Co-operative’s Darfield site. 
Robert has more than 20 years’ experience in 
the food and dairy industries. After managing 
the Northland Dairy Company’s Dargaville site, 
he moved to Australia in 1999, where he held 
various roles in Goodman Fielder Australia. 
From 2008 to 2011, Robert led two Australian 
food companies before returning to New 
Zealand. Robert holds a Bachelor of Engineering 
(Chemical and Materials).

6. JUDITH SWALES
Chief Operating Officer, Velocity and Innovation
Judith Swales has been with Fonterra since 2013 
and was appointed Chief Operating Officer 
Velocity and Innovation in June 2016. She is 
responsible for driving efficiency across the 
Co-operative, bringing increased commercial 
focus to Fonterra’s research, development 
and technology, and taking a strategic view on 
developing game changing business models. 
Prior to this appointment, Judith was the Managing 
Director of Fonterra Oceania, leading the 
successful turnaround of the Australian business 
and overseeing Fonterra Brands New Zealand.

She has extensive experience in senior 
management and business turnarounds, 
and prior to joining Fonterra, Judith was the 
Managing Director of Heinz Australia and 
CEO and Managing Director of Goodyear 
Dunlop, Australia and New Zealand. Before 
coming to Australia in 2001, Judith worked for 
a number of UK retailers which culminated in 
her move to Australia as the Managing Director 
of Angus and Robertson. She has served as a 
Non-Executive Director on the DuluxGroup 
Board since April 2011 and has a degree in 
microbiology and virology.

SUMMARY 
FINANCIAL 
STATEMENTS

For the year ended 31 July 2016

CONTENTS

DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT 

INCOME STATEMENT 

STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME 

STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION 

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY 

CASH FLOW STATEMENT 

NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT 

77 

78

79

80

81

82

83

94

76   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016DIRECTORS’ STATEMENT 
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

The Directors hereby approve and authorise for issue the summary financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016 presented on pages 78 
to 93. For and on behalf of the Board:

JOHN WILSON 
CHAIRMAN 
20 September 2016   

DAVID JACKSON
DIRECTOR
20 September 2016

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (Fonterra or the Co-operative) is a co-operative company incorporated and domiciled in New Zealand. 
Fonterra is registered under the Companies Act 1993 and the Co-operative Companies Act 1996, and is an FMC Reporting Entity under the 
Financial Markets Conduct Act 2013. Fonterra is also required to comply with the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act 2001.

These summary financial statements comprise Fonterra and its subsidiaries (together referred to as the Group) and include the Group’s interest 
in its equity accounted investees after adjustments to align to the accounting policies of the Group. They have been prepared in accordance with 
Financial Reporting Standard No. 43: Summary Financial Statements and have been extracted from the Group’s full financial statements. The 
Group’s full financial statements comply with International Financial Reporting Standards. They also comply with New Zealand Equivalents to 
International Financial Reporting Standards and have been prepared in accordance with New Zealand Generally Accepted Accounting Practice.

The Board has elected to present summary financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016 as part of the Annual Review sent to Shareholders. 
These summary financial statements include notes setting out key information.

These summary financial statements are presented for the year ended 31 July 2016. The comparative information is for the year ended 31 July 2015. 
These summary financial statements of the Group have been prepared using the same accounting policies and measurement basis as the Group’s 
full financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016. 

The full financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016, approved and authorised for issue by the Board on 20 September 2016, have been 
audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers and given an unqualified opinion.

The Group is primarily involved in the collection, manufacture and sale of milk and milk-derived products and is a profit-oriented entity. These 
summary financial statements are presented in New Zealand Dollars ($ or NZD), which is Fonterra’s functional and presentation currency, and 
rounded to the nearest million, except where otherwise stated.

The summary financial statements cannot be expected to provide as complete an understanding of the financial affairs of the Group as the 
full financial statements, which are available from Fonterra’s registered office at 109 Fanshawe Street, Auckland, New Zealand or on Fonterra’s 
website, www.fonterra.com.

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   77  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
INCOME STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

Revenue from sale of goods

Cost of goods sold

Gross profit

Other operating income

Selling and marketing expenses

Distribution expenses

Administrative expenses

Other operating expenses

Net foreign exchange gains

Share of profit of equity accounted investees

Profit before net finance costs and tax

Finance income

Finance costs

Net finance costs

Profit before tax

Tax (expense)/credit

Profit after tax

Profit after tax is attributable to:

Equity holders of the Co-operative

Non-controlling interests

Profit after tax

Earnings per share:

Basic and diluted earnings per share

GROUP $ MILLION

NOTES

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

2

17,199

(13,567)

3,632

266

(703)

(585)

(844)

(396)

7

54

1,431

18

(517)

(499)

932

(98)

834

810

24

834

10

18,845

(15,567)

3,278

288

(693)

(700)

(874)

(493)

70

66

942

39

(557)

(518)

424

82

506

466

40

506

GROUP $

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

0.51

0.29

The accompanying notes form part of these summary financial statements.

78   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016STATEMENT OF COMPREHENSIVE INCOME
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

Profit after tax

Items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:

Cash flow hedges:

 – Net fair value gains/(losses)

 – Transferred and reported in revenue from sale of goods

 – Tax (expense)/credit on cash flow hedges 

Net investment hedges:

 – Net fair value gains/(losses) on hedging instruments

 – Transferred and reported in other operating income

 – Tax (expense)/credit on net investment hedges

Available-for-sale investments:

 – Net fair value gains/(losses) on available-for-sale investments

Foreign currency translation (losses)/gains attributable to equity holders

Foreign currency translation reserve (gains)/losses transferred to income statement

Hyperinflation (losses)/gains attributable to equity holders

Share of equity accounted investees’ movements in reserves

Total items that may be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss

Items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss:

Foreign currency translation losses attributable to non-controlling interests

Hyperinflation movements attributable to non-controlling interests

Total items that will not be reclassified subsequently to profit or loss

Total other comprehensive income/(expense) recognised directly in equity

Total comprehensive income

Total comprehensive income is attributable to:

Equity holders of the Co-operative 

Non-controlling interests

Total comprehensive income

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

834

506

439

396

(234)

93

8

(28)

5

(376)

(15)

(16)

5

277

(84)

(10)

(94)

183

1,017

1,087

(70)

1,017

(1,361)

501

241

(164)

–

46

(2)

385

78

20

4

(252)

(6)

13

7

(245)

261

214

47

261

The accompanying notes form part of these summary financial statements.

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   79  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016STATEMENT OF FINANCIAL POSITION
AS AT 31 JULY 2016

GROUP $ MILLION

NOTES

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

ASSETS

Current assets

Cash and cash equivalents

Trade and other receivables 

Inventories

Tax receivable

Derivative financial instruments 

Assets held for sale

Other current assets 

Total current assets

Non-current assets

Property, plant and equipment

Equity accounted investments 

Livestock

Intangible assets

Deferred tax assets

Derivative financial instruments

Other non-current assets 

Total non-current assets

Total assets

LIABILITIES

Current liabilities

Bank overdraft

Borrowings

Trade and other payables 

Owing to suppliers

Tax payable

Derivative financial instruments

Provisions

Other current liabilities

Total current liabilities 

Non-current liabilities

Borrowings

Derivative financial instruments 

Provisions

Deferred tax liabilities

Other non-current liabilities

Total non-current liabilities 

Total liabilities

Net assets

EQUITY

Subscribed equity

Retained earnings

Foreign currency translation reserve

Cash flow hedge reserve

Other reserves

Total equity attributable to equity holders of the Co-operative

Non-controlling interests

Total equity

The accompanying notes form part of these summary financial statements.

80   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

369

1,625

2,401

13

451

87

145

5,091

6,172

960

342

3,142

410

417

584

12,027

17,118

12

955

2,169

719

18

43

47

35

3,998

5,397

569

152

44

11

6,173

10,171

6,947

5,833

1,384

(428)

64

6

6,859

88

6,947

342

2,322

3,025

22

44

90

232

6,077

6,159

1,185

331

3,273

732

373

185

12,238

18,315

39

1,681

1,984

159

39

993

77

59

5,031

5,879

415

186

109

36

6,625

11,656

6,659

5,814

1,289

(110)

(537)

17

6,473

186

6,659

5

6

5

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN EQUITY
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

ATTRIBUTABLE TO EQUITY HOLDERS OF THE CO-OPERATIVE

SUBSCRIBED 
EQUITY

RETAINED 
EARNINGS

FOREIGN 
CURRENCY 
TRANSLATION 
RESERVE

CASH FLOW 
HEDGE 
RESERVE

OTHER 
RESERVES

5,814

1,289

(110)

(537)

GROUP $ MILLION

As at 1 August 2015

Profit after tax

Other comprehensive income/(expense)

Total comprehensive income/(expense)

–

–

–

810

5

815

Transactions with equity holders in their capacity as equity holders:

Dividend paid to equity holders of the Co-operative

Equity instruments issued

Dividend paid to non-controlling interests

As at 31 July 2016

As at 1 August 2014

Profit after tax

Other comprehensive income/(expense)

Total comprehensive income/(expense)

–

19

–

(720)

–

–

5,833

1,384

5,807

–

–

–

1,059

466

4

470

Transactions with equity holders in their capacity as equity holders:

Dividend paid to equity holders of the Co-operative

Acquisition of subsidiaries

Equity instruments issued

Dividend paid to non-controlling interests

–

–

7

–

(240)

–

–

–

–

(318)

(318)

–

–

–

(428)

(455)

–

345

345

–

–

–

–

–

601

601

–

–

–

64

82

–

(619)

(619)

–

–

–

–

As at 31 July 2015 

5,814

1,289

(110)

(537)

TOTAL

6,473

810

277

1,087

(720)

19

–

6,859

17

–

(11)

(11)

–

–

–

6

(1)

6,492

–

18

18

–

–

–

–

17

466

(252)

214

(240)

–

7

–

6,473

NON-
CONTROLLING 
INTERESTS

186

24

(94)

(70)

–

–

(28)

88

42

40

7

47

–

120

–

(23)

186

TOTAL 
EQUITY

6,659

834

183

1,017

(720)

19

(28)

6,947

6,534

506

(245)

261

(240)

120

7

(23)

6,659

The accompanying notes form part of these summary financial statements.

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   81  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016CASH FLOW STATEMENT
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

Cash flows from operating activities
Profit before net finance costs and tax
Adjustments for:
Foreign exchange gains
Depreciation and amortisation
Other 

Decrease/(increase) in working capital:
Inventories
Trade and other receivables
Amounts owing to suppliers
Payables and accruals
Other movements 
Total
Cash generated from operations
Net taxes paid
Net cash flows from operating activities
Cash flows from investing activities
Cash was provided from:
 – Proceeds from sale of business operations
 – Proceeds from disposal of property, plant and equipment
 – Proceeds from sale of livestock
 – Proceeds from sale of available-for-sale assets
 – Other cash inflows
Cash was applied to:
 – Acquisition of business operations
 – Acquisition of property, plant and equipment 
 – Acquisition of livestock
 – Acquisition of intangible assets
 – Co-operative support loans
 – Advances to and investments in equity accounted investees
 – Other cash outflows
Net cash flows from investing activities
Cash flows from financing activities
Cash was provided from:
 – Proceeds from borrowings
 – Interest received
 – Other cash inflows
Cash was applied to:
 – Interest paid
 – Repayment of borrowings
 – Dividends paid to non-controlling interests
 – Dividends paid to equity holders of the Co-operative
 – Other cash outflows
Net cash flows from financing activities
Net increase/(decrease) in cash and cash equivalents
Cash and cash equivalents at the beginning of the year
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash balances
Cash and cash equivalents at the end of the year
Reconciliation of closing cash balances to the statement of financial position:
Cash and cash equivalents
Bank overdraft
Closing cash balances

The accompanying notes form part of these summary financial statements.

82   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

1,431

(365)
570
(44)
161

597
485
560
171
(42)
1,771
3,363
(85)
3,278

230
26
35
78
26

–
(859)
(95)
(85)
(383)
(41)
(26)
(1,094)

4,909
7
–

(415)
(5,815)
(28)
(701)
(7)
(2,050)
134
303
(80)
357

369
(12)
357

942

(70)
561
(60)
431

713
186
(1,612)
35
28
(650)
723
(55)
668

62
20
30
–
36

(771)
(1,189)
(121)
(104)
–
–
(3)
(2,040)

7,470
8
28

(455)
(5,443)
(23)
(233)
–
1,352
(20)
319
4
303

342
(39)
303

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

PERFORMANCE

1 

SEGMENT REPORTING 

a)  Operating segments
The Group has five reportable segments that reflect the Group’s management and reporting structure as viewed by the Fonterra Management Team. 
Transactions between segments are based on estimated market prices.

REPORTABLE SEGMENT

DESCRIPTION

Global Ingredients 
and Operations

Represents the collection, processing and distribution of New Zealand milk, global sales and marketing of New Zealand 
and non-New Zealand milk products (including the Quick Service Restaurant businesses in Asia and Greater China), 
Global Brands and Nutrition, Co-operative Affairs, Fonterra Farm Source™ stores and Group Services.

Oceania

Asia

Represents fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) businesses in New Zealand (including export to the Pacific Islands) and all 
FMCG and ingredients businesses in Australia (including Milk Supply and Manufacturing). It includes foodservice sales in 
Australia and New Zealand.

Represents FMCG and foodservice businesses (excluding the Quick Service Restaurant business) in Asia (excluding 
Greater China), Africa and the Middle East.

Greater China

Represents FMCG, foodservice (excluding the Quick Service Restaurant business) and farming businesses in Greater China.

Latin America

Represents FMCG and ingredients businesses in South America and the Caribbean. 

From 1 August 2015, Fonterra’s organisational structure was realigned and as a result the Fonterra Farm Source™ stores have moved out of 
Oceania into Global Ingredients and Operations. Comparatives have been restated to reflect these changes.

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   83  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

1 

SEGMENT REPORTING CONTINUED 

a)  Operating segments continued

Segment income statement

Year ended 31 July 2016

External revenue

Inter-segment revenue

Revenue from sale of goods

Cost of goods sold

Segment gross profit

GROUP $ MILLION

GLOBAL 
INGREDIENTS AND 
OPERATIONS

OCEANIA

ASIA

GREATER 
CHINA

LATIN 

AMERICA ELIMINATIONS

TOTAL 
GROUP

10,636

2,425

1,630

1,008

1,500

–

17,199

1,505

12,141

439

171

13

5

(2,133)

–

2,864

1,801

1,021

1,505

(2,133)

17,199

(10,343)

(2,362)

(1,213)

(742)

(1,042)

2,135

(13,567)

1,798

502

588

Selling and marketing expenses

Distribution expenses

Administrative and other operating expenses

Segment operating expenses

Net other operating income

Net foreign exchange gains/(losses)

Share of profit of equity accounted investees

Segment earnings before net finance costs and tax

Normalisation adjustments

(168)

(222)

(778)

(1,168)

145

30

59

864

(96)

(99)

(160)

(205)

(464)

97

1

1

137

23

Normalised segment earnings before net finance costs 
and tax

768

160

(187)

(38)

(128)

(353)

3

(3)

–

235

–

235

279

(132)

(10)

(85)

463

(117)

(155)

(74)

(227)

(346)

27

(5)

(10)

64

–

64

20

(16)

4

125

–

125

Normalisation adjustments

Finance income

Finance costs

Profit before tax

Profit before tax includes the following amounts:

Depreciation

Amortisation

Normalisation adjustments consist of the following amounts:

Gain on sale of DairiConcepts investment¹

Disposal and impairment of the Australian yoghurt 
and dairy desserts business²

Time value of options³

Total normalisation adjustments

Segment asset information:

As at and for the year ended 31 July 2016

Equity accounted investments 

Capital expenditure⁴

(337)

(72)

68

–

28

96

188

632

(48)

(27)

–

(23)

–

(23)

–

114

(13)

(4)

(30)

(1)

(37)

(1)

–

–

–

–

–

21

–

–

–

–

763

131

–

–

–

–

9

46

1  The $68 million normalisation adjustment relates to other operating income. 

2   Of the total $23 million, $4 million relates to cost of goods sold and $19 million to other operating expenses.

3   The $28 million normalisation adjustment relates to net foreign exchange gains.

4   Capital expenditure comprises purchases of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and net purchases of livestock.

84   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

2

–

–

30

30

(26)

–

–

6

–

6

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

3,632

(703)

(585)

(1,240)

(2,528)

266

7

54

1,431

(73)

1,358

73

18

(517)

932

(465)

(105)

68

(23)

28

73

960

944

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016a)  Operating segments continued

Segment income statement

Year ended 31 July 2015

External revenue

Inter-segment revenue

Revenue from sale of goods

Cost of goods sold

Segment gross profit

Selling and marketing expenses

Distribution expenses

Administrative and other operating expenses

Segment operating expenses

Net other operating income

Net foreign exchange gains/(losses)

Share of profit of equity accounted investees

Segment earnings before net finance costs and tax

Normalisation adjustments

Normalised segment earnings before net finance costs 
and tax

Normalisation adjustments

Finance income

Finance costs

Profit before tax

Profit before tax includes the following amounts:

Depreciation

Amortisation

Normalisation adjustments consist of the following amounts:

Net gain on Latin America strategic realignment¹

Impairment of the Australian yoghurt and 
dairy desserts business²

Restructuring and redundancy provisions³

Time value of options⁴

Total normalisation adjustments

Segment asset information:

As at and for the year ended 31 July 2015

Equity accounted investments 

Capital expenditure⁵

GROUP $ MILLION

GLOBAL 
INGREDIENTS AND 
OPERATIONS

OCEANIA

ASIA

GREATER 
CHINA

LATIN 

AMERICA ELIMINATIONS

TOTAL 
GROUP

11,861

1,570

13,431

2,438

480

2,918

1,551

181

1,732

(11,866)

(2,577)

(1,224)

1,565

(147)

(221)

(805)

(1,173)

131

83

67

673

38

711

(326)

(79)

–

–

(18)

(20)

(38)

341

(103)

(160)

(264)

(527)

29

(1)

2

(156)

118

(38)

(61)

(23)

–

(108)

(10)

–

(118)

311

939

7

84

508

(176)

(33)

(105)

(314)

2

(4)

–

192

3

195

(10)

(3)

–

–

(3)

–

(3)

–

36

807

–

807

(599)

208

(135)

(10)

(81)

(226)

18

–

(5)

(5)

1

(4)

(19)

(1)

–

–

(1)

–

(1)

858

382

2,188

2

2,190

(1,516)

674

(132)

(276)

(162)

(570)

158

(8)

2

256

(128)

128

(37)

(2)

129

–

(1)

–

128

9

90

–

18,845

(2,233)

–

(2,233)

18,845

2,215

(15,567)

(18)

3,278

–

–

50

50

(50)

–

–

(18)

–

(18)

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

–

(693)

(700)

(1,367)

(2,760)

288

70

66

942

32

974

(32)

39

(557)

424

(453)

(108)

129

(108)

(33)

(20)

(32)

1,185

1,531

1  Of the $129 million normalisation adjustment, $141 million relates to other operating income, $4 million to cost of goods sold and $8 million to other operating expenses.

2   Of the $108 million normalisation adjustment, $58 million relates to other operating expenses and $50 million to cost of goods sold.

3   The $33 million normalisation adjustment relates to administrative and other operating expenses.

4   The $20 million normalisation adjustment relates to net foreign exchange losses.

5  Capital expenditure comprises purchases of property, plant and equipment and intangible assets, and net purchases of livestock.

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   85  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

1 

SEGMENT REPORTING CONTINUED 

b)  Strategic platforms
The Group also presents financial information that reflects Fonterra’s strategic platforms. These strategic platforms are organised on a different 
basis than the Group’s operating segments presented in section a) of this note. The basis of presentation is explained in the table below. 

Fonterra considers this information to be useful as it provides more clarity on the financial performance of the ingredients, consumer and 
foodservice, and China Farms businesses.

PLATFORM

Ingredients 

Consumer and foodservice

 – Oceania

 – Asia

 – Greater China

 – Latin America

China Farms 

DESCRIPTION

Represents the Global Ingredients and Operations reportable segment, the ingredients businesses in Australia 
and South America, and excludes the Quick Service Restaurant businesses in Asia and Greater China and 
unallocated costs.

Represents the Oceania reportable segment, excluding the ingredients business in Australia.

Represents the Asia reportable segment and the Asia Quick Service Restaurant business reported in Global 
Ingredients and Operations.

Represents the Greater China reportable segment, excluding China Farms and including the Quick Service 
Restaurant business in Greater China reported in Global Ingredients and Operations.

Represents the Latin America reportable segment, excluding the ingredients businesses in South America.

Represents farming operations in China.

GROUP

31 JULY 2016

INGREDIENTS

CONSUMER AND FOODSERVICE

OCEANIA

ASIA

GREATER 
CHINA

LATIN 
AMERICA

TOTAL

CHINA 
FARMS

UNALLOCATED 
COSTS AND 
ELIMINATIONS

TOTAL

Volume1 (liquid milk equivalents, billion)

Volume1 (metric tonnes, thousand)

Sales revenue1 ($ million)

Normalised EBIT ($ million)

Capital employed2 ($ million)

Return on capital3 

22.4

3,074

1.8

698

1.6

292

13,005

2,051

1,944

1,204

7,724

97

489

244

127

0.9

167

916

131

22

0.6

643

4.9

1,800

1,385

6,296

108

284

580

922

0.2

229

183

(59)

873

(3.8)

23.7

(577)

4,526

(2,285)

17,199

(367)

1,358

(127)

9,392

13.4% 10.9% 133.4% 429.9% 23.6% 41.7%

(6.5)%

12.4%

For the year ended 31 July 2016 the Group’s return on capital including intangible assets, goodwill and equity accounted investments, was 9.2 per cent.

GROUP

31 JULY 2015

INGREDIENTS

CONSUMER AND FOODSERVICE

OCEANIA

ASIA

GREATER 
CHINA

LATIN 
AMERICA

TOTAL

CHINA 
FARMS

UNALLOCATED 
COSTS AND 
ELIMINATIONS

TOTAL

Volume1 (liquid milk equivalents, billion)

Volume1 (metric tonnes, thousand)

Sales revenue1 ($ million)

Normalised EBIT ($ million)

Capital employed2 ($ million)

Return on capital3

21.5

2,982

1.7

619

1.6

284

14,341

2,021

1,918

973

8,592

51

465

202

145

0.6

122

729

45

45

0.6

660

2,033

110

403

4.5

1,685

6,701

408

1,058

0.2

164

141

(44)

594

(3.4)

22.8

(528)

4,303

(2,338)

18,845

(363)

974

(757)

9,487

9.3%

5.0% 96.2%

71.5% 18.6% 25.5%

(7.3)%

8.9%

For the year ended 31 July 2015 the Group’s return on capital including intangible assets, goodwill and equity accounted investments, was 6.9 per cent.

1 

Includes sales to other strategic platforms. Total column represents total external sales.

2  Capital employed excludes brands, goodwill and equity accounted investments.

3  Return on capital is calculated as normalised EBIT, less equity accounted investees’ earnings, less a notional royalty charge for use of the Group’s brands, less a notional tax 

charge, divided by capital employed.

86   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016c)  Geographical revenue

REST OF 

CHINA

ASIA AUSTRALIA

NEW 
ZEALAND

UNITED 
STATES

EUROPE

LATIN 
AMERICA

REST OF 
WORLD

TOTAL

GROUP $ MILLION

Geographical segment external revenue:

Year ended 31 July 2016

Year ended 31 July 2015

2,394

2,111

4,829

5,222

1,471

1,560

1,939

1,882

1,305

1,198

745

725

2,053

3,113

2,463

3,034

17,199

18,845

Revenue is allocated to geographical segments on the basis of the destination of the goods sold.

d)  Non-current assets

GROUP $ MILLION

GLOBAL INGREDIENTS 
AND OPERATIONS

NEW 
ZEALAND

REST OF 
WORLD

OCEANIA

NEW 

ZEALAND AUSTRALIA

ASIA

GREATER 
CHINA

LATIN 
AMERICA

TOTAL 
GROUP

Geographical segment reportable non-current assets:

As at 31 July 2016

As at 31 July 2015

5,459

4,783

301

464

1,292

1,394

740

814

779

822

1,648

1,751

981

11,200

1,105

11,133

Reconciliation of geographical segment’s non-current assets to total non-current assets:

Geographical segment non-current assets 

Deferred tax assets

Derivative financial instruments 

Total non-current assets

2 

COST OF GOODS SOLD 

Opening inventory

Cost of Milk:

 – New Zealand sourced

 – Non-New Zealand sourced

Other purchases

Closing inventory

Total cost of goods sold

GROUP $ MILLION

AS AT
31 JULY 2016

AS AT
31 JULY 2015

11,200

410

417

12,027

11,133

732

373

12,238

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

3,025

6,205

944

5,794

(2,401)

13,567

3,701

7,121

1,151

6,619

(3,025)

15,567

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   87  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

DEBT AND EQUITY

3 

SUBSCRIBED EQUITY INSTRUMENTS 

Co-operative shares, including shares held within the Group
Co-operative shares may only be held by a shareholder supplying milk to the Company (farmer shareholder), by former farmer shareholders for 
up to three seasons after cessation of milk supply, or by Fonterra Farmer Custodian Limited (the Custodian). Voting rights in the Company are 
dependent on milk supply supported by Co-operative shares.¹

Balance at 1 August 2015

Shares issued²

Shares surrendered

Balance at 31 July 2016

Balance at 1 August 2014

Shares issued

Shares surrendered

Balance at 31 July 2015

CO-OPERATIVE SHARES  
(THOUSANDS)

1,599,094

3,609

–

1,602,703

1,597,834

1,260

–

1,599,094

1  These rights are also attached to vouchers when backed by milk supply (subject to limits).

2  3,609,118 shares (31 July 2015: 1,260,116 shares) with a total value of $19 million (31 July 2015: $7 million) were issued under the Dividend Reinvestment Plan during the year 

ended 31 July 2016.

The rights attaching to Co-operative shares are set out in Fonterra’s Constitution, available in the ‘About/Our Governance’ section of Fonterra’s website.

Units in the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund 
The Custodian holds legal title of Co-operative shares of which the Economic Rights have been sold to the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund (the Fund)
on trust for the benefit of the Fund. At 31 July 2016, 111,991,937 Co-operative shares (31 July 2015: 105,480,366) were legally owned by the Custodian, 
on trust for the benefit of the Fund.

Balance at 1 August 2015

Units issued

Units surrendered

Balance at 31 July 2016

Balance at 1 August 2014

Units issued

Units surrendered

Balance at 31 July 2015 

UNITS
 (THOUSANDS)

105,480

27,137

(20,625)

111,992

109,778

21,906

(26,204)

105,480

The rights attaching to units are set out in the Trust Deed constituting the Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund, available in the ‘Financial/Trading Among 
Farmers’ section of Fonterra’s website.

Capital management and structure
The Board’s objective is to maximise equity holder returns over time by maintaining an optimal capital structure. Trading Among Farmers (TAF) 
allows shares in Fonterra to be traded between shareholders, on the Fonterra Shareholders’ Market (a private market operated by NZX Limited).  
The Fund supports this by allowing investors, including farmers, to trade in units backed by Economic Rights in Fonterra.  The Fund also allows 
farmers to acquire units and exchange them for shares in Fonterra, and to exchange shares for units and dispose of those units on the NZX or ASX.

The Group provides returns to farmer shareholders through a milk price, and to equity holders through dividends and changes in the Company’s 
share price. 

The Fund is subject to the issue and redemption of units at the discretion of Fonterra and Fonterra’s farmer shareholders. Fonterra has an interest 
in ensuring the stability of the Fund and has established a Fund Size Risk Management Policy, which requires that the number of units on issue 
remain within specified limits and that within these limits, the number of units is managed appropriately. Fonterra may use a range of measures 
to ensure the Fund size remains within the specified limits, including introducing or cancelling a dividend reinvestment plan, operating a unit 
and/or share repurchase programme and issuing new shares.

88   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 20164  DIVIDENDS PAID 

DIVIDENDS

2016 Interim dividend – 10 cents per share¹

2016 Interim dividend – 20 cents per share²

2015 Final dividend – 15 cents per share³

2015 Interim dividend – 10 cents per share⁴

2014 Final dividend – 5 cents per share⁵

$ MILLION

YEAR ENDED 
31 JULY 2016

YEAR ENDED 
31 JULY 2015

160

320

240

–

–

–

–

–

160

80

1  Declared on 16 May 2016 and paid on 7 June 2016 to all Co-operative shares on issue at 30 May 2016. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan applied to this interim dividend.
2  Declared on 22 March 2016 and paid on 20 April 2016 to all Co-operative shares on issue at 8 April 2016. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan applied to this interim dividend.
3  Declared on 23 September 2015 and paid on 20 October 2015 to all Co-operative shares on issue at 8 October 2015. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan applied to this dividend.
4  Declared on 24 March 2015 and paid on 20 April 2015 to all Co-operative shares on issue at 10 April 2015. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan applied to this interim dividend.
5   Declared on 23 September 2014 and paid on 20 October 2014 to all Co-operative shares on issue at 9 October 2014.

Dividends declared after balance date
On 18 August 2016, the Board declared a dividend of 10 cents per share. This dividend totalling $160 million was paid on 9 September 2016 
to all Co-operative shares on issue at 1 September 2016. 

Fonterra has a Dividend Reinvestment Plan, where eligible shareholders can choose to reinvest all or part of their dividend in additional 
Co-operative shares. The Dividend Reinvestment Plan did apply to this dividend. Full details of the Dividend Reinvestment Plan are available 
in the ‘Our Financials’ section of Fonterra’s website.

5 

BORROWINGS 

Economic net interest-bearing debt
Economic net interest-bearing debt reflects the effect of debt hedging in place at balance date. 

Net interest-bearing debt position

Total borrowings

Cash and cash equivalents

Interest-bearing advances included in other non-current assets

Bank overdraft

Net interest-bearing debt

Value of derivatives used to manage changes in hedged risks 

Economic net interest-bearing debt

Total borrowings in the table above are represented by: 

Commercial paper

Bank loans

Finance leases

Capital notes

NZX-listed bonds

Medium-term notes

Total borrowings

Included within the statement of financial position as follows:

Total current borrowings

Total non-current borrowings

Total borrowings

GROUP $ MILLION

AS AT 
31 JULY 2016

AS AT 
31 JULY 2015

6,352

(369)

(464)

12

5,531

(58)

5,473

7,560

(342)

(65)

39

7,192

(72)

7,120

GROUP $ MILLION

AS AT 
31 JULY 2016

AS AT 
31 JULY 2015

454

879

143

35

499

4,342

6,352

955

5,397

6,352

473

1,717

169

35

500

4,666

7,560

1,681

5,879

7,560

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   89  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

5 

BORROWINGS CONTINUED 

Leverage ratios
The Board closely monitors the Group’s leverage ratios, which include the gearing ratio and debt coverage ratios (debt payback and interest 
coverage ratios). The primary debt payback ratios comprise funds from operations divided by economic net interest-bearing debt, and economic 
net interest-bearing debt divided by EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortisation). Debt payback ratios are adjusted 
for the impact of operating leases. The gearing ratio is calculated as economic net interest-bearing debt divided by total capital. Economic net 
interest-bearing debt is calculated in the table above. Total capital is calculated as equity, as presented in the statement of financial position 
(excluding the cash flow hedge reserve), plus economic net interest-bearing debt. The gearing ratio as at 31 July 2016 was 44.3 per cent (31 July 
2015: 49.7 per cent). The Group is not subject to externally imposed capital requirements.

Liquidity risk
The Group manages its liquidity by retaining cash and marketable securities, the availability of funding from an adequate amount of committed 
credit facilities and the ability to close out market positions. Fonterra’s funding facilities are reviewed at least annually, which is one of the key 
financial risk management activities undertaken by the Group to ensure an appropriate maturity profile given the nature of the Group’s business. 
At balance date the Group had undrawn lines of credit totalling $3,723 million (31 July 2015: $2,520 million).

WORKING CAPITAL

6  OWING TO SUPPLIERS

The Board uses its discretion in establishing the rate at which Fonterra will pay suppliers for the milk supplied over the season. This is referred to 
as the advance rate. The following table provides a breakdown of the advance payments made to suppliers:

Owing to suppliers ($ million)

Final milk price for the season

Of this amount:

 – Total advance payments made during the year

 – Total owing as at 31 July

Amount advanced during the year as a percentage of the milk price for the season ended 31 May

INVESTMENTS

7  ASSETS HELD FOR SALE

AS AT 
31 JULY 2016

AS AT 
31 JULY 2015

719

$3.90

$3.48

$0.42

89%

159

$4.40

$4.33

$0.07

98%

Darnum manufacturing plant – Australia
On 16 March 2015, Fonterra acquired an 18.8 per cent shareholding in Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co., Ltd. (Beingmate). In conjunction with 
this investment, Fonterra and Beingmate confirmed their intention to establish a partnership to purchase the Darnum manufacturing plant in 
Australia. Fonterra remains committed to this transaction, which is expected to complete during the financial year ending 31 July 2017 following 
receipt of the required regulatory approvals. The final regulatory approval was received on 18 September 2016.

The carrying value of these assets as at 31 July 2016 is $87 million (31 July 2015: $90 million).

8 

EQUITY ACCOUNTED INVESTMENTS 

The Group’s significant equity accounted investments are listed below. The ownership interest in these entities is 50 per cent or less and the 
Group is not considered to exercise a controlling interest.

EQUITY ACCOUNTED INVESTEE NAME

COUNTRY OF INCORPORATION AND PRINCIPAL PLACE OF BUSINESS

DMV Fonterra Excipients GmbH & Co KG

Germany

DairiConcepts, L.P.1

DairiConcepts Management, L.L.C.1

United States

United States

Beingmate Baby & Child Food Co., Ltd

China

All investees have balance dates of 31 December.

1  On 31 December 2015 the Group sold its 50 per cent interest in DairiConcepts, L.P. and DairiConcepts Management, L.L.C.

90   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

OWNERSHIP INTERESTS (%)

AS AT 
31 JULY 2016

AS AT 
31 JULY 2015

50

–

–

18.8

50

50

50

18.8

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT

9 

FINANCIAL RISK MANAGEMENT

Overview
Global financial and commodity markets remain volatile. The nature of Fonterra’s business is such that managing risks in the foreign exchange, 
interest rate, commodity, credit and liquidity markets is critical to minimising the volatility in returns to equity holders.

The Board has overall responsibility for the establishment and oversight of the Group’s financial risk management framework. The Board:

 – has established financial risk management policies and procedures to identify, analyse and, where appropriate, manage the financial risks faced 

by the Group;

 – has approved a Treasury Policy that covers appropriate financial risk limits and controls (including, but not limited to, delegated authority levels 

and authorised use of various financial instruments); and 

 – monitors financial risks and adherence to approved limits.

The Group’s overall financial risk management programme focuses primarily on maintaining a prudent financial risk profile that provides 
flexibility to implement the Group’s strategies, while ensuring the optimisation of the return on assets. Financial risk management is centralised, 
which supports compliance with the financial risk management policies and procedures set by the Board.

Key financial risk management activities

Capital structure 
The Board’s objective is to maximise equity holder returns over time by maintaining an optimal capital structure. For further detail refer to Note 3.

Bank facility renewal 
Fonterra’s banking facilities are reviewed at least annually, which is one of the key financial risk management activities undertaken by the Group 
to ensure an appropriate maturity profile. For further detail refer to Note 5.

Leverage ratios
The Board closely monitors the Group’s leverage ratios, which include the gearing ratio and debt coverage ratios (debt payback and interest 
coverage ratios). For further detail refer to Note 5.

OTHER

10  TAXATION

Taxation – income statement
The total taxation expense/(credit) in the income statement is summarised as follows:

Current tax expense

Prior period adjustments to current tax

Deferred tax movements:

 – Origination and reversal of temporary differences

Tax expense/(credit)

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

108

5

(15)

98

97

–

(179)

(82)

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   91  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016NOTES TO THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS CONTINUED
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

10  TAXATION CONTINUED 

The taxation charge that would arise at the standard rate of corporation tax in New Zealand is reconciled to the tax expense/(credit) as follows:

Profit before tax

Prima facie tax expense at 28%

Add/(deduct) tax effect of:

 – Effect of tax rates in foreign jurisdictions 

 – Non-deductible expenses/additional assessable income

 – Non-assessable income/additional deductible expenses

 – Prior year under provision

Tax expense before distributions and deferred tax

Effective tax rate before distributions and deferred tax¹

Tax effect of distributions to farmer shareholders

Tax expense/(credit) before deferred tax

Effective tax rate before deferred tax¹

Add/(deduct) tax effect of:

 – Origination and reversal of other temporary differences

 – Losses of overseas Group entities not recognised/(recognised)

Tax expense/(credit)

Effective tax rate1

Imputation credits

Imputation credits available for use in subsequent reporting periods 

Tax losses

Gross tax losses available for which no deferred tax asset has been recognised

1  The effective tax rate is the tax charge on the face of the income statement expressed as a percentage of the profit before tax.

11  CONTINGENT LIABILITIES, PROVISIONS AND COMMITMENTS

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

932

261

(24)

90

(66)

5

266

28.5%

(170)

96

10.3%

(1)

3

98

424

119

(31)

44

(71)

–

61

14.4%

(107)

(46)

(10.8)%

2

(38)

(82)

10.5%

(19.3)%

20

48

20

55

Contingent liabilities
In the normal course of business, Fonterra, its subsidiaries and equity accounted investees are exposed to claims and legal proceedings that may 
in some cases result in costs to the Group. 

In early August 2013, Fonterra publicly announced a potential food safety issue with three batches of Whey Protein Concentrate (WPC80) 
produced at the Hautapu manufacturing site and initiated a precautionary product recall. 

In late August 2013, the New Zealand Government confirmed that the Clostridium samples found in WPC80 were not Clostridium botulinum and were 
not toxigenic, meaning the consumers of products containing the relevant batches of WPC80 were never in danger from Clostridium botulinum. 

In January 2014, Danone formally initiated legal proceedings against Fonterra in the High Court of New Zealand and separate Singapore 
arbitration proceedings against Fonterra in relation to the WPC80 precautionary recall. The New Zealand High Court proceedings have been 
stayed pending completion of the Singapore arbitration. An initial hearing of the arbitration took place in February 2016 and a final hearing of the 
arbitration took place in June 2016. A decision of the arbitration panel is expected to be issued by the end of 2016.

Based on current information available and the claims made to date in both proceedings, Fonterra will vigorously defend its position in these 
proceedings. Uncertainty exists regarding the outcome of the proceedings. Fonterra has provided $11 million (31 July 2015: $11 million) in respect 
of the Danone claims, which represents the maximum contractual liability to Danone.

The Directors believe that these proceedings have been adequately provided for and disclosed by the Group and that there are no additional claims 
or legal proceedings in respect of this matter which are pending at the date of these financial statements that require provision or disclosure.

The Group has no other contingent liabilities as at 31 July 2016 (31 July 2015: nil).

92   |    SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 201612  NET TANGIBLE ASSETS PER SECURITY

Net tangible assets per security¹

$ per listed debt security on issue

$ per equity instrument on issue

Listed debt securities on issue (million)

Equity instruments on issue (million)

1  Net tangible assets represents total assets less total liabilities less intangible assets.

GROUP

AS AT 
31 JULY 2016

AS AT 
31 JULY 2015

6.32

2.37

603

1,603

5.62

2.12

603

1,599

   SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS    |   93  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT 
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

TO THE SHAREHOLDERS OF FONTERRA CO-OPERATIVE GROUP LIMITED

REPORT ON THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

We have audited the accompanying Group summary financial statements of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited (“the Company”), on pages 
78 to 93 which comprise the statement of financial position as at 31 July 2016, the income statement, the statement of comprehensive income 
and the statement of changes in equity and the cash flow statement for the year then ended, and notes to the financial statements. The Group 
summary financial statements are derived from the audited financial statements of the Group for the year ended 31 July 2016. The Group 
comprises the Company and the entities it controlled at 31 July 2016 or from time to time during the financial year.

The summary financial statements do not contain all the disclosures required for full financial statements under New Zealand Equivalents to 
International Financial Reporting Standards and International Financial Reporting Standards. Reading the Group summary financial statements, 
therefore, is not a substitute for reading the audited Group financial statements of Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited.

DIRECTORS’ RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The Directors are responsible on behalf of the Company for the preparation of the summary financial statements in accordance with FRS-43: 
Summary Financial Statements (FRS 43).

AUDITORS’ RESPONSIBILITY

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the summary financial statements based on our procedures, which were conducted in accordance 
with International Standard on Auditing (New Zealand) 810: Engagements to Report on Summary Financial Statements.

Our firm carries out other assignments for the Group in relation to other advisory, other assurance and attestation services. Partners and 
employees of our firm may deal with the Group on normal terms within the ordinary course of trading activities of the Group. These matters have 
not impaired our independence as auditors of the Group.

OPINION ON THE GROUP’S FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Our audit of the financial statements for the year ended 31 July 2016 was completed on 20 September 2016 and our unmodified opinion was 
issued on that date. 

OPINION ON THE SUMMARY FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

In our opinion, the Group summary financial statements have been correctly derived from the audited Group financial statements of Fonterra Co-
operative Group Limited for the year ended 31 July 2016 and are consistent, in all material respects, with those financial statements, in accordance 
with FRS-43.

RESTRICTION ON DISTRIBUTION OR USE

This report is made solely to the Company’s shareholders, as a body and has been prepared for inclusion in the Fonterra Annual Review 
report. Our work has been undertaken so that we might state those matters we are required to state to them in a report from the auditor and 
for no other purpose. To the fullest extent permitted by law, we do not accept or assume responsibility to anyone other than the Company’s 
shareholders, as a body, for this report, or for the opinions we have formed. In addition, we take no responsibility for, nor do we report on, any 
part of the annual report not specifically mentioned in our report.

Chartered Accountants
Auckland 
20 September 2016

94   |    INDEPENDENT AUDITORS’ REPORT

 
FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

STATUTORY INFORMATION  
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

CURRENT CREDIT RATING STATUS

Standard & Poor’s long-term rating for Fonterra is A- with a rating outlook of stable. Fitch’s long and short-term default rating is A with a rating 
outlook of stable. Retail Bonds have been rated the same as the Company’s long-term rating by both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch. Capital Notes 
which are subordinate to other Fonterra debt issued are rated BBB+ by Standard & Poor’s and A- by Fitch.

EXCHANGE RULINGS AND WAIVERS

NZX Limited (NZX) has ruled that Capital Notes do not constitute ‘equity securities’ under the NZX Main Board/Debt Market Listing Rules 
(‘Rules’). This means that where Capital Notes are quoted on NZX’s Debt Market (‘NZDX’), the Company is not required to comply with certain 
Rules which apply to an issuer of quoted equity securities. 

The Company was issued with a waiver of Rule 11.1.1 to enable it to decline to accept or register transfers of Capital Notes (NZDX listed debt 
securities FCGHA) if such transfer would result in the transferor holding or continuing to hold Capital Notes with a face value or principal amount 
of less than $5,000 or if such transfer is for an amount of less than $1,000 or not a multiple thereof. The effect of this waiver is that the minimum 
holding amount in respect of the Capital Notes will at all times be $5,000 in aggregate and can only be transferred in multiples of $1,000.

The Company was issued with a waiver of Rule 5.2.3 by NZX on 10 April 2015 (for a period of one year from 21 April 2015) in respect of the 
Company’s issuance of $350 million of unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed rate bonds maturing on 20 October 2021 (‘FCG030 Bonds’), to the 
extent that that rule would otherwise require the FCG030 Bonds to be held by at least 500 members of the public holding at least 25% of the 
FCG030 Bonds.

The Company was also issued with a waiver of Rule 5.2.3, as modified by NZX’s ruling on Rule 5.2.3, by NZX on 18 February 2016 (for a period of 
six months from 8 March 2016) in respect of the Company’s issuance of $150 million of unsecured, unsubordinated, fixed rate bonds maturing on 
7 March 2023 (‘FCG040 Bonds’), to the extent that the rule (as modified) would otherwise require the FCG040 Bonds to be held by at least 100 
members of the public holding at least 25% of the FCG040 Bonds.

The effect of these waivers from Rule 5.2.3 is that the FCG030 Bonds and the FCG040 Bonds may not be widely held and there may be reduced 
liquidity in those bonds.

The Company was issued with a waiver of Rule 7.11.1 by NZX on 18 February 2016 in respect of the Company’s issuance of the FCG040 Bonds, to 
the extent that the rule would have otherwise required the Company to allot the FCG040 Bonds within five business days after the latest date on 
which applications for the FCG040 Bonds closed.

NZX TRADING HALTS

No trading halts were placed on Fonterra securities by NZX Regulation in the financial year ended 31 July 2016.

   STATUTORY INFORMATION    |   95  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

FIVE YEAR SUMMARY
FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 JULY 2016

SHAREHOLDER SUPPLIER RETURNS

Payout 

Farmgate Milk Price (per kgMS)1

Dividend (per share)

Cash payout2

Retentions (per share)3

OPERATING PERFORMANCE

Average commodity prices (US$ per MT FOB)

Whole Milk Powder4

Skim Milk Powder4

Butter4

Cheese5

Average NZD/USD spot exchange rate applying throughout the year6

Fonterra’s average NZD/USD conversion rate7

Revenue ($ million)

Ingredients and other revenue

Consumer revenue

Total revenue

Dairy ingredients manufactured in New Zealand (000s MT)

Total ingredients sales volume (000s MT)8 

Segment earnings ($ million)9

Global Ingredients and Operations

Oceania

Asia

Greater China

Latin America

Eliminations

Segment earnings

Normalisation adjustments

Normalised segment earnings

Profit after tax attributable to shareholders ($ million)

Earnings per share10

JULY 2016

JULY 2015

JULY 2014

JULY 2013

JULY 2012

3.90

0.40

4.30

0.11

2,111

1,803

2,830

2,766

0.67

0.71

10,903

6,296

17,199

2,466

3,074

864

137

235

64

125

6

1,431

(73)

1,358

810

0.51

4.40

0.25

4.65

0.04

2,639

2,552

3,027

3,477

0.76

0.79

12,144

6,701

18,845

2,753

2,982

673

(156)

192

(5)

256

(18)

942

32

974

466

0.29

8.40

0.10

8.50

–

4,824

4,504

3,920

4,706

0.84

0.81

17,748

4,527

22,275

2,519

3,052

280

31

50

30

111

1

503

–

503

157

0.10

5.84

0.32

6.16

0.14

3,394

3,625

3,550

4,124

0.82

0.80

13,926

4,717

18,643

2,312

2,765

480

93

207

–

137

20

937

65

6.08

0.32

6.40

0.10

3,359

3,285

3,546

3,498

0.80

0.77

14,824

4,945

19,769

2,353

2,660

477

218

182

–

124

(14)

987

41

1,002

1,028

718

0.44

609

0.41

1  From the beginning of the 2009 season the Farmgate Milk Price has been determined by the Board. In making that determination, the Board takes into account the 

Farmgate Milk Price calculated in accordance with the principles set out in the Farmgate Milk Price Manual which is independently audited.

2  Average Payout for a 100 per cent share-backed supplier.
3  Retentions are calculated as net profit after tax attributable to Co-operative shareholders at 31 July divided by the number of shares at 31 May, less dividend per share.
4  Source: Fonterra Farmgate Milk Price Statement representing the weighted-average United States Dollar (USD) contract prices of Reference Commodity Products.
5  Source: Oceania Export Series, Agricultural Marketing Service, US Department of Agriculture.
6  Average spot exchange rate is the average of the daily spot rates for the financial period.
7  Fonterra’s average conversion rate is the rate that Fonterra has converted net United States Dollar receipts into New Zealand Dollars based on the hedge cover in place.
8  For the year ended 31 July 2014 the total ingredients sales volume has been restated to reflect Fonterra’s strategic platforms. Figures for the years ended 31 July 2013 and 

earlier have not been restated.

9  Represents segment earnings before unallocated finance income, finance costs and tax. For the years ended 31 July 2016, 2015 and 2014, Greater China has been disclosed 
separately in alignment with the disclosures in the segment note. For the years ended 31 July 2013 and earlier, Greater China was part of Asia. The year ended 31 July 2015 
has been restated to reflect changes to the organisation of business units that occurred in the year ended 31 July 2016. The year ended 31 July 2014 has been restated to 
reflect changes to the organisation of business units that occurred in the year ended 31 July 2015. The year ended 31 July 2012 has been restated to reflect changes to the 
organisation of business units within reported segments which occurred in the year ended 31 July 2013. 

10 On 27 February 2013, Fonterra announced a non-cash bonus issue of one share for every 40 shares held. The bonus issue increased the number of shares on issue by 40.4 

million. The record date for the bonus issue was 12 April 2013 and the issue date was 24 April 2013. Earnings per share for the year ended 31 July 2012 have been restated as 
if the bonus issue was effective at the beginning of the periods presented.

96   |    FIVE YEAR SUMMARY

KEY CAPITAL MEASURES ($ million)

Equity excluding cash flow hedge reserve

Economic net-interest bearing debt¹¹

Economic debt to debt plus equity ratio¹²

Capital employed¹³

Return on capital¹⁴

STAFF EMPLOYED

Total staff employed (000s, permanent full time equivalents)

New Zealand

Overseas

SEASON STATISTICS15

Total NZ milk collected (million litres)

Highest daily volume collected (million litres)

NZ shareholder supply milk solids collected (million kgMS) 

NZ contract supply milk solids collected (million kgMS) 

NZ milk solids collected (million kgMS)

Total number of shareholders at 31 May

Total number of sharemilkers at 31 May

Total number of shares at 31 May (million)

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

JULY 2016

JULY 2015

JULY 2014

JULY 2013

JULY 2012

6,883

5,473

44.3%

9,392

12.4%

7,196

7,120

6,452

4,732

6,830

4,467

6,592

4,229

49.7%

42.3%

39.6%

39.1%

9,487

8,493

8,249

8,004

8.9%

4.7%

10.5%

11.1%

21.3

11.4

9.9

17,585

86.9

1,453

113

1,566

10,579

3,098

1,602

22.0

11.9

10.1

18,143

89.7

1,520

94

1,614

10,753

3,379

1,599

18.2

11.4

6.8

17.5

11.2

6.3

17,932

16,673

87.1

1,533

51

1,584

10,721

3,398

1,598

84.8

1,424

39

1,463

10,668

3,449

1,598

17.3

11.0

6.3

16,951

81.2

1,463

30

1,493

10,578

3,595

1,433

11  Economic net interest-bearing debt reflects total borrowings less cash and cash equivalents and non-current interest-bearing advances adjusted for derivatives used to 

manage changes in hedged risks.

12  Economic debt to debt plus equity ratio is calculated as economic net interest-bearing debt divided by economic net interest-bearing debt plus equity excluding cash flow 

hedge reserves.

13  Capital employed excludes brands, goodwill and equity accounted investments.
14  Return on capital is calculated as normalised EBIT, less equity accounted investees’ earnings, less a notional tax charge, divided by capital employed. 
15  All season statistics are based on the 12 month milk season of 1 June–31 May.

   FIVE YEAR SUMMARY    |   97  

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

NON-GAAP MEASURES

Fonterra uses several non-GAAP measures when discussing financial performance. For further details and definitions of non-GAAP measures 
used by Fonterra, refer to the glossary on page 99. These are non-GAAP measures and are not prepared in accordance with NZ IFRS. 

Management believes that these measures provide useful information as they provide valuable insight on the underlying performance of the 
business. They may be used internally to evaluate the underlying performance of business units and to analyse trends. These measures are not 
uniformly defined or utilised by all companies. Accordingly, these measures may not be comparable with similarly titled measures used by other 
companies. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be viewed in isolation nor considered as a substitute for measures reported in accordance 
with NZ IFRS.

Reconciliations for the NZ IFRS measures to certain non-GAAP measures referred to by Fonterra are detailed below.

Reconciliation from the NZ IFRS measure of profit for the period to Fonterra’s normalised EBITDA

Profit for the period 

Add: Depreciation 

Add: Amortisation

Add: Net finance costs

Add/(Less): Taxation expense/(credit)

Total EBITDA 

Add: Disposal and impairment of the Australian yoghurt and dairy desserts business

Add: Restructuring and redundancy provisions

(Less)/Add: Time value of options

Less: Gain on DairiConcepts sale

Less: Gain on Latin America realignment

Total normalisation adjustments

Normalised EBITDA

Reconciliation from the NZ IFRS measure of profit for the period to Fonterra’s normalised EBIT

Profit for the period 

Add: Net finance costs

Add/(Less): Taxation expense/(credit)

Total EBIT

(Less)/Add: Normalisation adjustments (as detailed above)

Total normalised EBIT

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

834

465

105

499

98

2,001

23

–

(28)

(68)

–

(73)

1,928

506

453

108

518

(82)

1,503

108

33

20

–

(129)

32

1,535

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

834

499

98

1,431

(73)

1,358

506

518

(82)

942

32

974

Reconciliation from the NZ IFRS measure of profit for the period to Fonterra’s normalised earnings per share

Profit for the period 

(Less)/Add: Normalisation adjustments (as detailed above)

Add/(Less): Tax on normalisation adjustments

Total normalised earnings

Less: Share attributable to non-controlling interests

Net normalised earnings attributable to equity holders of the Parent

Weighted average number of shares (thousands of shares)

Normalised earnings per share ($)

98   |    NON-GAAP MEASURES

GROUP $ MILLION

31 JULY 2016

31 JULY 2015

834

(73)

52

813

(24)

789

506

32

(42)

496

(40)

456

1,600,825

0.49

1,598,464

0.29

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

GLOSSARY  

NON-GAAP MEASURES 

Fonterra refers to non-GAAP financial measures throughout the Annual Review, and these measures are not prepared in accordance with NZ 
IFRS. The definitions below explain how Fonterra calculates the non-GAAP measures referred to throughout the Annual Review.

Constant currency

means a measure that eliminates the effect of exchange rate movements. Constant currency variances 
are calculated by taking the current period financial measure in local currency less the prior period 
financial measure in local currency and dividing this by prior period financial measure in local currency 
using the prior period local currency to the New Zealand Dollar exchange rate.

Contribution margin

is calculated as segmental gross profit less distribution, selling and marketing expenses.

EBIT

means earnings before interest and tax and is calculated as profit for the period before net finance costs 
and tax.

EBIT margin %

is calculated as profit for the period before net finance costs and tax and divided by revenue.

EBITDA

means earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation and is calculated as profit for the 
period before net finance costs, tax, depreciation and amortisation.

Economic debt to debt plus 
equity ratio

is calculated as net interest-bearing debt divided by net interest-bearing debt plus equity. Net interest-
bearing debt includes the effect of debt hedging, and equity excludes the cash flow hedge reserve.

Farmgate Milk Price

means the base price that Fonterra pays for milk supplied to it in New Zealand for a season. The season 
refers to the 12 month milk season of 1 June to 31 May.

Net tangible assets

means total assets less total liabilities less intangible assets.

Normalisation adjustments

means transactions that are unusual by nature and size. Excluding these transactions can assist users 
with forming a view of the underlying performance of the business. Unusual transactions by nature 
are the result of a specific event or set of circumstances that are outside the control of the business, 
or relate to the major acquisitions or disposals of an asset/group of assets or business. It may also 
include certain fair value movements created by required accounting treatments, in particular if they 
are non-cash movements, and will have no impact on profit over time. Unusual transactions by size are 
those that are unusually large in a particular accounting period. Unusually large is defined as greater 
than $30 million.

Normalised EBIT

means profit for the period before net finance costs, tax and after normalisation adjustments.

Normalised EBIT margin %

means profit for the period before net finance costs, tax and after normalisation adjustments 
divided by revenue.

Normalised EBITDA

means profit for the period before net finance costs, tax, depreciation, amortisation and after 
normalisation adjustments.

Normalised segment earnings

means segmental profit for the period before depreciation, amortisation, net finance costs, taxation 
expense, and after normalisation adjustments.

Payout

Retentions

means the total cash payment to farmer shareholders. It is the sum of the Farmgate Milk Price (kgMS) 
and the dividend per share. Both of these components have established policies and procedures in place 
on how they are determined.

means net profit after tax attributable to farmer shareholders divided by the number of shares at 31 May, 
less dividend per share.

Segment earnings

means segmental profit for the period before net finance costs, tax and normalisation adjustments.

   GLOSSARY    |   99  

REGISTERED OFFICE

Fonterra Co-operative Group Limited 
Private Bag 92032 
Auckland 1010 
New Zealand

Fonterra Centre 
109 Fanshawe Street 
Auckland Central 
Auckland 1010 
New Zealand

Phone +64 9 374 9000 
Fax +64 9 374 9001

AUDITORS 

PricewaterhouseCoopers 
Level 22, PwC Tower 
188 Quay Street 
Auckland 1142 
New Zealand

FARMER SHAREHOLDER AND 
SUPPLIER SERVICES

Freephone 0800 65 65 68

FONTERRA SHARES AND 
FSF UNITS REGISTRY

Computershare Investor Services 
Limited 
Private Bag 92119 
Auckland 1142 
New Zealand

Level 2, 159 Hurstmere Road 
Takapuna 
Auckland 0622 
New Zealand

CAPITAL NOTES REGISTRY

Link Market Services Limited 
PO Box 91976 
Auckland 1142 
New Zealand

Level 11, Deloitte Centre 
80 Queen Street 
Auckland 1010 
New Zealand

INVESTOR RELATIONS ENQUIRIES

Phone +64 9 374 9000 
investor.relations@fonterra.com

www.fonterra.com

FONTERRA ANNUAL REVIEW 2016

DIRECTORY

FONTERRA BOARD  
OF DIRECTORS

John Wilson

Malcolm Bailey

Clinton Dines

Ian Farrelly

Leonie Guiney

Simon Israel 

David Jackson

David MacLeod

John Monaghan

Nicola Shadbolt

Michael Spaans

John Waller

Ashley Waugh

FONTERRA  
MANAGEMENT TEAM

Theo Spierings

Lukas Paravicini

Jacqueline Chow

Miles Hurrell

Robert Spurway

Judith Swales

Kelvin Wickham

100   |    DIRECTORY

WE ARE FONTERRA 
WE ARE OF THE LAND 

We were born from a heritage of staunchly 
independent farmers who knew we had to stand 
together as one Co-operative for us all to be 
successful. We honour the legacy of past dairy men 
and women who went out and created markets 
in far flung places for our New Zealand milk. 

We will succeed through the generations because 
we are committed to sustainable dairying and 
to the communities where we live and work. 
This starts with our own people. Their richness of 
difference – countries, cultures, experiences – and 
the shared passion they bring, make us successful. 

We will be fiercely loyal to our roots and always 
remember that we exist to secure the prosperity  
of future generations of New Zealand farmers  
by bringing the goodness of dairy to the world. 

We listen to our customers and partners, speak 
forthrightly and do what we say we’ll do. We stand  
for naturalness, health and uncompromising  
standards of quality, safety and integrity. 

From those seeds we now source milk from 
around the world and create new products 
and services. We can do this because we know 
milk better than anyone else and can unlock its 
natural goodness in ways that add real value to 
customers and consumers throughout their lives. 

We aim high, always work to deliver exceptional 
results and find ways to make it happen, even 
when the going gets tough. We will do things 
tomorrow that we can only dream of today. 

WE ARE FONTERRA 
WE ARE DAIRY FOR LIFE 

This document is printed on an environmentally 
responsible paper produced using elemental chlorine 
free (ECF)FSC® certified mixed source pulp, sourced 
from well managed and legally harvested forests, 
and manufactured under the strict ISO14001 
environmental management system.