DairyCo

First Milk release financial results

Published 20 August 10

First Milk release financial results

First Milk has released its financial results for the 2009/10 period, reporting a pre-tax profit of £0.4m, compared to the loss of nearly £10m recorded in the previous year.  The move into profit, however, can be attributed to the sale of its shares in Robert Wiseman Dairies for £18.6m, which resulted in a net gain of £7.9m on its accounts after reducing bank debt by £10.7m.  The reduction in bank debt reduced interest charges by £2.4m (33%), further supporting its return to profit.

Turnover fell by almost 8% during the year, resulting from a move away from low margin cheese contracts and lower dairy prices, although this was offset by an 8% drop in cost of sales.  Stripping out the sale of share assets from the financial accounts shows that the co-operative would have recorded a deficit before interest and tax of £2.9m, an improvement of 18.2% on the previous year's deficit.