Fonterra Cooperative Group has today (1 April) completed the sale of its global consumer business and associated companies, Mainland Group, to Lactalis.
Fonterra “With the divestment complete, Fonterra can return capital to its owners and focus on growing further through its core business as a global B2B dairy provider owned by New Zealand farmers,” Chairman Peter McBride said.
CEO Miles Hurrell “Through our performance food ingredients and services business, we sell innovative dairy products to customers globally under our NZMP (New Zealand Milk Products) and Anchor Food Professionals brands,” he said.
“We can now focus our resources, R&D spending, and farmer capital on continuing to grow this business, which generates the greatest return for farmers’ milk.”
The completion of the sale also “marks the beginning of our long-term partnership with Lactalis,” Hurrell added.
“Lactalis has become one of our most important ingredient customers, as we continue to supply milk and other products to the companies we sold to,” he said.
Now that the sale has been completed, Fonterra will return NZ$3.2 billion of divestment proceeds to farmer shareholders and unitholders through a capital return of NZ$2.00 per share.
As is customary, the NZX has agreed to a three-day administrative trading halt in respect of Fonterra shares and Fonterra Shareholders’ Fund units listed on the NZX Main Board.
This is to ensure that all trades are settled before the record date and to allow time for the Fonterra share register to be updated.
Financial projections
Fonterra’s fiscal year 2026 (FY26) earnings guidance for continuing operations remains unchanged at 50-65 cents per share.
Fonterra continues to target earnings to return to FY25 levels by FY28, offsetting the divestment of the mainland group, through the execution of its strategy.
Last month, Fonterra released its interim half-year results, which showed “continued momentum” in its performance.
Fonterra reported revenues of NZ$13.9 billion in the first half of the financial year, an increase of NZ$1.3 billion year-on-year.
