DFoB Management Get A Right Royal Slating
The former management team of failed milk co-op Dairy Farmers of Britain come in for their biggest slating yet in this article in the Farmers Guardian today:
Muppets
I particularly like the "he’s never run anything other than a bath in his life" quote.
DFoB Owed HSBC GBP59 Million
Failed milk co-operative Dairy Farmers of Britain owed £59 million to HSBC when it went pop, according to a report from the receivers PricewaterhouseCoopers.
HSBC will get £55 million of that money back, say PwC.
Unfortunately that isn't the case for unsecured creditors, who are left to swing and will get four-fifths of bugger all.
DFoB was riddled with a flawed business plan, poor management and bad decision-making says the report.
"Farmers will be looking for somebody to blame for the pain and losses they have experienced and many of our members have questioned the integrity, professionalism and ability of DFB executives and council members in light of its collapse," said the NFU last week.
NFU Points Finger At DFB Board
Much of the blame for the collapse of milk co-operative Dairy Farmers of Britain can be lain fairly and squarely at the door of the board of directors, say the NFU.
A statement on the NFU website, falls short of calling them a raggle-taggle bunch of numpties, but only just.
In it, NFU Director General Richard Macdonald says: "The creditor's report makes for depressing reading. I'm sure that many farmers won't be surprised to learn that the underlying causes of DFB's problems appear to include a flawed business plan, poor management and bad decision making."
Adding: "Farmers will be looking for somebody to blame for the pain and losses they have experienced and many of our members have questioned the integrity, professionalism and ability of DFB executives and council members in light of its collapse."
Concluding that: "The report shows no evidence of wrong-doing but makes it clear that the main responsibility for the long line of bad decisions, aborted projects and lack of any clear strategy within DFB rests with the board and the executive team."
Full sorry story here: Numpties R Us
Five More DFoB Depots Saved
Five former Dairy Farmers of Britain depots have managed to find new buyers, say PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Four depots in the liquids division of DFoB have been acquired by The Capital Dairy Company Limited and the Cheshunt depot has been sold to Braeforge Limited.
The depots sold to the Capital Dairy Company Limited are in Newark, Skegness, Spalding, Hillsborough.
Unfortunately it seems that there are unlikely to be any further buyers emerging for the remaining DFoB depots, putting around 250 more people out of work.
It is not expected that ex DFoB Chairman Lord Grantchester, 32nd in the Sunday Times Rich List, will be joining them in the dole queue.
Another DFoB Dairy Closes
Dairy Farmers of Britain receivers PriceWaterhouseCoopers have announced the closure of the company's plant at Blaydon on Tyneside, which employed around 290 people, after last-ditch attempts to find a buyer over the weekend failed.
The news comes hot on the heels of the announcement of the closure Bridgend dairy with the loss of 279 jobs on Friday, that facility was the last remaining major milk bottling plant in Wales.
Earlier last week the company's Lincoln creamery became the first casualty with 127 jobs lost there.
Dairy cooperative OMSCo has brought forward an existing agreement to take on DFoB's organic farmers from 1st July, and Milk Link has bought the failed company's Llandyrnog plant for an undisclosed sum.
Lubborn Cheese Sold In DFoB Fallout
Lubborn Cheese Limited has been sold to Lactalis McLelland by PriceWaterhouseCoopers in the aftermath of the Dairy Farmers of Britain failure last week.
Although Lubborn Cheese was part of Dairy Farmers of Britain, it was not placed into receivership on 3 June along with the rest of the co-operative.
The Lubborn Creamery is in Cricket St. Thomas, Somerset, and the deal thankfully represents an opportunity for local DFoB members to continue to supply milk to the plant.
The news comes just a day after Milk Link announced that it has agreed in principle to buy the Llandyrnog Creamery from DFoB.
Milk Link Agrees Acquisition of Llandyrnog Creamery From DFoB
Milk Link has announced that it has agreed in principle to buy the Llandyrnog Creamery and its associated operations from Dairy Farmers of Britain, which went into receivership last week.
The agreement will be subject to the finalising of all necessary legal documentation and is expected to be completed by Friday 12th June at the latest.
Neil Kennedy, Milk Link Chief Executive, said: “This is great news both for Milk Link and the loyal staff and farmers who are at the very heart of the Llandrynog Creamery. The acquisition of Llandyrnog will complement our existing market leading cheese business and we believe will deliver, over time, substantial business benefits.”
Lets hope that the rest of the beleagured DFoB operation gets up mopped up equally quickly, and that the farmers involved all get alternative outlets for their milk asap.
It's All Gone Sour For Dairy Farmers Of Britain
Milk co-op Dairy Farmers of Britain, with an estimated 10% of the UK market, is in receivership after months of speculation snd rumour that all was not well.
Exactly what the implications are for it's estimated 1,800-2,000 members so far seems to be unclear.
Who, if anyone, will pick up the milk tomorrow will be a question that many are asking. And what about the milk cheque? I think we probably know the answer to the last one.
Despite various efforts to keep it's head above water, it seems that losing the contract to supply fresh milk to The Co-operative Group, was one body blow too many.
In March the beleagured DFB asked it's members and former members to swap £70 million of their investment for shares worth a fraction of that, making each pound of investment worth one share with a face value of 10p.
Needless to say that didn't go down to well with it's members causing them to resign in their droves.
Dairy Farmers of Britain Cut Milk Price
Dairy Farmers of Britain were first to jump onto the price cut bandwagon set rolling by Arla and First Milk earlier in the week, by announcing a hefty 2.2ppl cut effective from Apr 1st yesterday.
That's right, they announced on the 8th April that a price cut was effective from 1st April. And no, it isn't a back-dated April fool.
But hang on a minute, didn't DFB chairman Lord Grantchester promise members back in November that there would be no more retrospective price cuts and that everyone would receive advance notice of any future price adjustments?
Erm, well yes he did, but he must have had his fingers crossed or something, so that doesn't count.
Dairy Farmers of Britain
Dairy Farmers of Britain (DFB) is asking its members and former members to swap £70 million of their investment for shares worth a fraction of that, according to media reports.
Under the deal, each pound of investment would be worth one share with a face value of 10p.
Earlier this week Lib Dem agriculture spokesperson and Cumbrian MP Tim Farron smeared himself liberally (nice pun) in the brown smelly stuff by erroneously saying that HSBC had withdrawn its funding to the troubled milk co-op.
DFB and HSBC both acted quickly to refute that this was the case and also the suggestion made by Farron that the move could have put DFB into liquidation by the end of this week.
DFB is hoping that members will vote today to convert their loanstock into non-voting shares which will enable it to move forward with its business plan the co-op says.
Dairy Farmers of Britain records £3.6m loss
FWi -- Dairy Farmers of Britain has announced it made a loss of £3.6 million (after finance costs and tax) in the 12 months to March 2008.
The figure, outlined in the co-ops annual report and accounts, was worse than an equivalent loss of £2.6m in 2006/07 and was largely due to exceptional costs increasing from £1.91m to £3.97m as part of a planned business improvement programme.
There was also a fall in operating profit before exceptional costs, from £6m in 2006/07 to £4m in 2007/08.
Despite the seemingly gloomy figures, DFoB said the trading performance was slightly better than envisaged in the three-year business plan and the co-op was still on target to meet the aim of breaking-even before tax in the current financial year.
