A CAPITAL management policy and focus on returning value to its 4200 members has resulted in CBH declaring a record total rebate of $60.4 million for 2015-16.
The record rebate was a massive 350 per cent increase over the $16.9m returned to growers in rebates for 2014-15.
It represented up to $4.20 a tonne reduction in handling and storage fees to growers.
And, according to the group’s chief financial officer Ed Kalajzic, 2016-17 “bodes well” as another “good rebate year”.
Mr Kalajzic said CBH’s marketing and trading section returned to profit after a net loss in 2014-15 and contributed $7.6m to the total rebate, or $1.20 of the $4.20 per tonne.
CBH’s financial results released on Monday showed the record rebate payout cut net profit after tax (NPAT) to $49.8m, down from $82.7m the previous year.
But pre-rebate surplus for 2015-16 was $110.2m – up 10.6pc on the previous year – on total revenue of $3.3 billion.
Chief executive officer Andy Crane described it as a “strong year” for the co-operative. The financial performance was made possible by CBH’s fourth largest harvest of 13.6m tonnes, he said.
“The results are driven by a real clear focus and a single measure of performance which is our dollar per tonne,” Dr Crane said.
“Our growers are our user, our owner and sole beneficiary, so we’ve got that real focus on lowering the supply chain costs and then further offsetting that with rebates.
“We maintained Australia’s lowest storage and handling fees of $30.50 per tonne, excluding freight, and reduced freight (costs) by 2.5pc which is in additional to reductions in previous years,” he said.
The focus on returning value was reflected in $16m recurrent efficiency savings identified during the first year of a two-year program, he said.
Dr Crane acknowledged the attempt by Australian Grains Champion (AGC) in 2015-16 to force CBH to change to a publically-listed corporate entity had precipitated a structure and governance review. He said the “structure decision” to remain as a non-distributing co-operative was “largely separate” from the financial results and was taken with a long-term view.
The subsequent survey was conducted after the AGC offer was rejected after consultation with growers, and 79pc of growers indicated they preferred the co-operative model, he said.
“Certainly they have seen how the co-operative has performed in recent years against other supply chains, particularly in the measure of supply chain costs. The full financial report can be viewed on the CBH website.
