Australian grain cooperative CBH Group has reported a surplus before rebates of $128 million after a 13.3 million tonne harvest.
The cooperative has released its financial results for the 12 months to 30 September 2018, reporting the vast majority of the surplus was passed back to growers in the form of a $95 million rebate, leading to a Net Profit after Tax and Rebates of $33 million.
More than double the amount of investment into the supply chain and strong contributions from the Operations and Market and Trading divisions are believed to be the driving forces behind the results.
In the 12 months, CBH invested $212 million into network capital and maintenance, which included the construction of an additional 650,000 tonnes of permanent storage to the network, the construction of 1.1 million tonnes of emergency storage, 24 throughput enhancement projects and ongoing maintenance.
Chief Executive Officer, Jimmy Wilson, said the $128 million Group surplus before rebates was a good result from the business which had focused on improving service for growers as well as reducing costs during the year.
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“Throughout the year, we have been focused on progressing towards a smarter, leaner and healthier organisation so we can give our growers every advantage to keep them internationally competitive,” Wilson said.
“The full year results confirm that our transformation is progressing well and that CBH can continue to deliver low cost outbound costs and good marketing and trading results for growers.
“We also continued to optimise our storage and handling network, investing significantly to improve the service and efficiency of our sites, make our fees even more competitive and deliver tonnes to port when it’s most needed,” he said.
Revenue for the financial year has increased by 9 per cent to $3.8 billion, driven by significantly higher year-on-year grain prices and slighter higher tonnes traded, partially offset by lower grain handling and freight revenue.
The group has also reported continued growth for CBH Fertiliser, with tonnes sold increasing 45 per cent to 90,000 tonnes in the 12 months to the end of September.
CBH Fertiliser started operations in 2015 and is now profitable, following growth during the year.
Looking ahead, Wilson said CBH was well positioned and would keep its focus on finding efficiencies within the supply chain and continue delivering the Network Strategy.
“We remain committed to reducing paddock to port costs for our growers and working towards our goal of removing ongoing costs of more than $100 million from the business,” Wilson said.
“In addition, we are continuing the elevated work pace on the Network improvement to deliver an optimal supply chain and help keep our growers internationally competitive.”