Dairy Farmers of Britain receivers final report
Stephen Oldfield, David Kelly and Ian Green of PwC, joint receivers and managers of Dairy Farmers of Britain Limited (DFB) have announced today a final milk payment averaging 2 pence per litre (ppl) for farmers supplying the receivers for the period following their appointment on 3rd June 2009. This follows further successful cash collections from milk customers over the past six months which the receivers are able to pass on without deduction in accordance with their pure margin management policy [see notes to editor].
Stephen Oldfield, joint receiver and manager and PwC’s UK agribusiness leader said:
"The strategy of the receivership was to rely on the DFB’s customers to pay a fair price for the milk in order not to cause a crash in the milk price. In the last six months we have been able to collect more money than we expected from the tail end of the customer book, meaning a further 2 ppl average to all those farmers who supplied the receivership until they found new homes to go to.
"Farmers are struggling to make silage feed last through a long winter in the face of very high animal feed prices and we hope this brings welcome cash at a difficult time of year."
On the DFB receivership overall, Stephen Oldfield concluded:
"DFB is probably the most complex and challenging appointment I have ever had to handle. When you are responsible for moving perishable liquid milk there is no time for indecision or room for lack of clarity. To keep the wheels turning and the milk flowing 24\7 in receivership was not easy whilst finding new homes for all the Co-operatives farmer suppliers. We needed to take a pragmatic view on the milk contracts to allow farmers the ability to find alternative customers. We are confident that there were no missed collections, and within 43 days all the dairy farmer suppliers had found new homes for their milk.
"While it was clear from the outset that there would be no prospect of any money left for suppliers, farmer creditors or members from the receivership, we are clear that by keeping milk collections and deliveries going, a major crash in the UK milk market was averted. This could not have been achieved without close working with the Members Council, Government bodies and the milk industry.
"I would like to thank the other milk co-operatives and processors, the hauliers, suppliers and importantly the DFB employees for helping our team over a very challenging first six weeks."
The final updating report by the receivers will be followed in early March by the formal winding up of the Co-operative, however receivership activities will continue for many months. This will not affect the financial outcome for creditors and farmer members.
