ANM Group now fit for the future
ANM Group now fit for the future
ANM Group, the Scottish farmer-owned co-operative, says it is now ‘fit for the future’ after a year of change brought much better financial results with trading losses reducing from £2.517 million in 2011 to £477,000 in 2012 – a £2 million improvement in the year. It is also predicted the Group will return to profitability in 2013.
Group CEO Pat Machray OBE said that having dealt with the issue of ‘de-risking’ ANM from its previous meat industry problems; the co-operative was now in a far better place than it was a year ago.
Machray pointed out that the 2012 loss was all down to meat operations that had since been discontinued. He added that the Group’s core mart operations remained profitable and continued to deliver good results.
That was despite the fact that unlike 2011, the mart operation did not have the benefit of a one-off £454,000 interest adjustment or a substantial contribution as in 2011 from a major disposal auction such as the Les Taylor Group sale. Machray said: “Looking ahead, we are predicting that our Auction Division will continue to be profitable and we no longer have the huge exposure to Meat Division trading losses.”
A substantial component of the losses from the sale or closure of businesses had already been predicted in 2011 to be £3.3 million. This finally turned out to be £3.7 million, which includes the Scotch Premier Meat and Yorkshire Premier Meat disposals.
Machray also said that at the end of 2011 ANM had to apply a loss of £2.599 million to their profit and loss reserves, but for 2012 they have added a surplus of £105,000 to the Group reserves.
The Group has also been able to resolve issues in its pension scheme with the recent closure of the defined benefit scheme to active employees and transfer of the same to a defined contribution scheme. It praised the support of its staff has been superb in this difficult time. “I am delighted that our members have shown confidence in the Group as we have come through fairly stormy waters during the year. Indeed, we are now sitting with a waiting list of members who want to put more money into the Group under members’ loans.”
He added: “We equally want members to continue to support the Group by investing in shares which also gives a good return, which will help look after the Group in the long term.”
Machray also stressed: “My view is that our job here is to deliver a great service and return benefits to our members. We want to invest for the future of the Group and I am confident the members will support the Board in that.”
The CEO said members now had a number of exciting projects to look forward to including the new abattoir planned with Scotbeef (Inverurie) and the master plan for developing and diversifying Thainstone.
