Newsletter Archive:
| Chairman's View |
You will have received a letter last week reporting that the merger talks with Milk Link were off, and many of you will have talked about this at discussion groups over the past few days.  While the team working on the deal still feel a degree of disappointment, I believe that we can all look in the mirror and be comforted by the fact that we could not have done any more to strike a deal that was in the best interests of our members. I know from my experience at Unilever that despite the best will in the world, a merger is always much more complicated to achieve than a takeover. The focus of your Board and Executive team has moved immediately to other plans we have to develop your business, which include growing our existing business as well as strategic moves. We will update you on these at the appropriate time. At a recent meeting we had with your Local Representatives, we were asked about what we were doing in relation to a capital structure for First Milk. I can report to you that activity in this area is progressing as a matter of urgency. While much of the detailed work remains to be completed, the business will look to pay members a fixed return on capital invested, and an additional variable return based on the performance of the business. Members will be consulted on the proposals through the discussion groups, before being asked to approve a new capital structure in Rule changes. |