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Ravensdown posts one of 'best ever results'

15:09 pm on 28 July 2022

Fertiliser co-op Ravensdown has annouced an overall group profit of $95 million and an underlying profit of $68m before tax this year.

Ravensdown fertiliser plant in Hornby, Christchurch Photo: Google Maps

Chairman Bruce Wills said it was one of Ravensdown's "best ever results" in a year of volatile pricing and global supply challenges.

He said total fertiliser sales were up slightly, at 1.22m tonnes, and revenue was up $210m on last year to $922m

"The rapidly rising international prices makes fertiliser hard to budget for our farmers," he said.

"To help them, Ravensdown focussed on product margins and yielded a FY22 group margin percentage lower than last year."

Ravensdown Shipping Services also provided a $26m boost to the group's bottom-line performance.

Chief executive Garry Diack said the co-op has positioned its balance sheet for another challenging year in 2023, with $347m of stock in store.

"Our fundamental belief is that this cash is better in use on-farm than in our hands, and our margin-based pricing approach has proven this to be the case this year," he said.

Ravensdown this morning also announed it was working with the government to invest $22m in investigating how nitrogren loss could be reduced on farms.

Ravensdown will investing $11m and the government will contribute $7.3m through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures Fund to the seven year programme called N-Vision.

It will look at three options to reduce leaching: a nitrification inhibitor technology, a new soil test to inform nitrogen fertiliser decisions on pastoral farms, and a fungal bio-inoculant to increase nitrogen use efficiency.