Such cases are a win for Ravensdown, he said, repeating an initial comment a year earlier that sales tonnage is not the key performance measure.
The farmer-owned co-operative has also, for the first time, provided a measure of its own annual carbon footprint and will be working to lower it each year as well as helping customers to reduce theirs.
The footprint is measured in tonnes of carbon dioxide produced through the group operations, from transporting raw product from mine to ship, shipping, manufacturing and distribution and getting it onto farmland.
More than three-quarters of the footprint is to a large extent out of Ravensdown’s hands because it is in shipping.
“We look forward to carbon reduction commitments by the international shipping industry becoming a reality,” Campbell said.
The group makes superphosphate here and during the process its three acid plants produce electricity that can be sold to the national grid, counting as a credit against emissions. The manufacturing and distribution operations also include coal used in lime drying and fuel used in transport and spreading, including aerial spreading.
For the record, in calendar 2017, Ravensdown’s own footprint, excluding its suppliers and product users, was 154,407 tonnes of carbon dioxide with 117,579t in shipping, 31,112t in manufacture and distribution, 5215t in aerial spreading and 501t in the initial mine to port activity.
Chairman John Henderson said profit and rebate levels are not reliable measures of performance and the group will be transparent in reporting progress.
It will try to optimise profit in a sustainable way and maximise nutrient efficiency on farms. That will involve recommending a sweet spot of the right rate or the right product in the right place and time.
Ravensdown will set the bar high in its quest for smarter farming.
The group made a profit before rebate and tax of $63 million in the year ended May 31 with higher sale volumes and revenues than a year earlier. A rebate of $47 a tonne on fertiliser purchases was announced, with the final part paid by the end of August.
The rebate payout is listed at $55.3m, income tax at $36,000 and a loss on discontinued operations of $822,000, leaving a bottom-line profit of $6.94m. That compares to $713,000 a year earlier.
The balance sheet shows May 31 total assets at $604.7m, allowing for the rebate payment, including equity of $429.4m for a very strong equity ratio of 71%. The figure a year earlier was 73%.
Inventory levels were higher, at $135m from $114m, as a decision was made to import raw materials to guard against possible short-term supply-chain disruption.
There were only $30.2m of borrowings, down from $42m. Operating cashflow reflected that strength, rising to $97.8m from $60.25m.
The result also came after a $2m spend on asbestos removal from the roofs in group stores around the country, being the fourth year of a $17m longer-term programme.
