Openfield Group, the farmer-owned grain marketing and farm inputs business, has reported profits before tax of £400,000 for the year to 30 June 2018, following a £3.3m loss in 2017.
The improved performance follows a year of transition as Openfield simplified its business, removed duplicate activities and focussed on delivering improved service and value.
The core financial strength of Openfield remained strong with net assets increasing to £24.2m (2017: £23.7m), with no core borrowings and a surplus working capital of £5.5m (2017: £5.7m). Total members grew to 4152, up 6% from 3926 in 2017.
Harvest 2017 saw a small crop which resulted in a reduced volume of grain being offered for export. As a result, turnover from activities, despite domestic volume growth with their key consumers, reduced marginally to £628m.
In addition to a small crop size, the UK grain industry also experienced haulage challenges, following the failure of milling wheat crops in the south.
This resulted in the need for longer journeys and a significantly increased demand for haulage across the sector, which resulted in a capacity shortfall and increased costs.
Commenting on this performance, Openfield’s chairman Philip Moody said: “We have worked hard to streamline and improve both our member proposition and our financial performance. This has resulted in our farmer owned organisation being fit for the future, ready to respond to new opportunities and to deliver further success.”
