Increased Flexibility
With a 33% Minimum Holding
You will only need to hold 1 share for every ~3 kgMS of milk supplied.
Currently, it’s 1 share for every 1 kgMS of milk supplied
With a 4x Maximum Holding
you can hold up to 4 times your milk supply in shares.
Currently, it’s 2 times your milk supply.
The Minimum Holding and Maximum Holding will continue to be determined based on a rolling three-season average (or relevant estimates where there is no average), as they are today.
We will still keep the 1:1 Share Standard, which has been a feature of our Co-op for many years, as it is.
Voting rights will stay as they are now – based on both milk supply and equity in our Co-op, at a ratio of 1 vote per 1,000 kgMS of share-backed supply in the previous season. This means they will reduce to the extent supplying shareholders choose to reduce their shareholding below the 1:1 Share Standard.
The total number of shares on issue in the Co-op is intended to be within +/- 15% of milk supply, to support alignment of total shares with total milk supply.
Why have we made this change?
Farmers leave for different reasons, but one of the most influential ones is the level of compulsory investment that’s required to be part of our Co-op.
The Flexible Shareholding structure will help to level the playing field with competitors, many of whom are foreign-backed and don’t require farmers to invest capital.
The Minimum Holding strikes a balance between providing a meaningful level of flexibility for those who need it, which is critical to maintaining a sustainable milk supply, while ensuring all supplying shareholders have some capital-backed supply.
Lifting the cap on share ownership will help to ensure that there is more capacity for other farmers to buy shares from those who want to sell.
