Dear valued shareholder,
In this update we provide further detail around one of the key initiatives referred to in our last Shareholder Update, designed to deliver further value to you as a Ballance shareholder.
We also share our 2024 Annual Review and full financial results, announce some changes to our Ballance Board, and provide details on our 2024 Annual Meeting.
Introducing Fixed Price Nitrogen
With the current challenging market conditions, we know you need options and certainty around input costs. We are today announcing the launch of a Fixed Price Nitrogen pilot. This initiative will help you take advantage of the fixed price per tonne on both Nrich Urea or SustaiN, for a six-month contract period, with a minimum contract volume of 30 tonnes and a maximum volume of 500 tonnes.
We hope this initiative will give you greater stability and confidence when planning ahead. You can read more about Fixed Price Nitrogen here.
A limited volume of nitrogen will be available as part of the initial Fixed Price Nitrogen market pilot. Applications open in September and shareholders wanting to take advantage of this pilot can apply through the Ballance website.
This is the first of several new initiatives we will be announcing in the coming months, so keep an eye out for further announcements.
2024 Annual Review – now live
Our 2024 Annual Review is now live on our website. This provides valuable insights into the operations of your co-operative, alongside the financial performance, and includes a summary of the financial statements to year ended 31 May. You can read it online or download it by visiting this page of our website.
In addition to the Annual Review, our Annual Report which includes our full financial statements and notes, is also available on our website.
This year, we have prepared a separate Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Inventory Report, which discloses the co-operative’s GHG Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions and outlines how they are quantified. This report is also available on our website.
From next year, we will release our annual results and Annual Report at the same time, with the release scheduled for August 2025.
Ballance Board appoints new Independent Director
Ballance has appointed a new Independent Director, Clement Chia, to its Board. Clement brings a wealth of experience gained through financial, commercial and operational roles across manufacturing, FMCG and forestry businesses. He is currently Finance Director for Woolworths New Zealand and prior to that was the Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer for NZX listed seafood company, Sanford.
Clement has held several board positions previously, including Chair of the Finance and Commercial Committee for the Selwyn Foundation. We are delighted to have secured someone of Clement’s calibre and believe the experience and expertise he brings will further strengthen our Board and propel us forward as we embrace the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead.
His appointment is effective following our Annual Meeting in September and fills a vacancy created by the departure of Simon Robertson, who retires after serving seven years on the Ballance Board. We’d like to thank Simon for the significant contribution he has made to the co-operative and wish him well as he embarks on some well-earned time away with family.
2024 Annual Meeting/Directors Election results
Our 2024 Annual Meeting will be held online on Wednesday 25 September. A Notice of Meeting will be posted to you soon and will include further details and instructions on how to join online, so keep an eye on your letterbox.
As we received no further nominations for the South and North wards, Dacey Balle and Cameron Henderson are re-elected uncontested to the Ballance Board and there will be no Director Election this year. We want to congratulate both Dacey and Cameron on their re-election and look forward to their ongoing contribution to the governance of Ballance.
We farewell Olivia Buckley who has concluded her tenure as Associate Director, and welcome Shaun Crofskey as her replacement. Shaun, together with his wife, owns a dairy farm in Roto-o-Rangi, Cambridge and he has agribusiness experience across a range of sectors. We welcome Shaun to this role and look forward to building his knowledge and experience to further build governance capability in the wider primary sector.
As always, please reach out to either of us directly anytime, via email or phone, with any questions or feedback.
Warm regards,
Duncan Coull
Chair
Duncan.coull@xtra.co.nz
027 472 7110
Kelvin Wickham
Chief Executive
Kelvin.wickham@ballance.co.nz
021 513 028