Northern Ireland dairy co-operative Dale Farm has reported higher turnover and profits for the year to the end of March, while it also said its net debt fell.
Dale Farm said its turnover increased from £722.4m to £749.3m, while EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation) for the year rose from £45.6m to £50.6m.
The farmer-owned cooperative’s operating profit grew by 4% to £39.2m and net profit before tax rose by 3.4% to £33m, while net debt reduced by £32.8m to £29.6m.
Dale Farm also returned more than £10m to its farmers, through paying an additional one pence per litre bonus on every litre supplied during the year.
During the year, Dale Farm said it paid a “competitive” milk price with an average of 40.38 pence per litre (after transport costs), paying out a total of £409m in milk payments to its farmers.
It said this compared favourably with average milk prices across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.
The co-op’s milk pool now exceeds 1 billion litres collected and processed annually.
Over the past two years, the milk pool has grown by 13%, which Dale Farm said reflected both farmer confidence and ongoing investment across the business.
Dale Farm’s group chief executive, Nick Whelan, said the performance reflects the collective effort of farmers, employees and customers.
“There is consistency and stability in our strong performance and it is a testament to the quality and resilience of our farmers, the dedication and commitment of our people, and the continued support of our customers,” Mr Whelan said.
He also said that Dale Farm has further strengthened its leadership in dairy innovation, as it secured approval for three patents in curd technology.
“Demand for our functional curd products continues to grow rapidly, with increasing sales to processed cheese partners across international markets,” he said.
“We also continue to invest in the future of the business. Following our £70m investment at Dunmanbridge, the next phase is now underway, including further upgrades to our new cheese processing facility. This will increase throughput and bring total cheddar capacity at Dunmanbridge to 100,000 tonnes,” he added.
He said the co-op’s focus remains on ensuring the profitability and sustainability of its farmers’ businesses.
“We recognise the significant cost pressures experienced at farm level, particularly as a result of global instability impacting input costs. In response to changing market conditions, payment for April and May supplies included an additional market support payment to assist our farmers at 1ppl and 2ppl respectively,” he added.
