Fonterra Shareholders Fund (FSF.NZ) 2026-09-23 Earnings Call Transcript

Thank you, and good afternoon, and thank you very much for taking the time to join us this afternoon. With me today is Andrew Murray, our Chief Financial Officer, and his team. I'm hoping you've all had the chance to watch the video and read through the results we released this morning. We won't go through those. I think we wanted to maximize time for questions. I'll hand back to you to guide us through the questions.

Well, thanks very much for joining us. Perhaps those that maybe haven't had the time to digest the results, as always, please reach out to the investor relations team. We would be happy to set up a call and talk you through it. Hope you all have a great day and thanks for coming on.

Thank you. If you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star two. If you're on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question today comes from Will Twiss with Forsyth Barr. Please go ahead.

Good morning, guys, and congratulations on the strong result. If we look at the FY 2026 result, obviously some good progress operationally, but you did benefit from some quite favorable stream returns as well. If we think then about your guidance for next year, where do these stream returns need to land for you to hit the middle or the top end of your guidance? Is the right way to think about it that if stream returns kind of stay where they are today, you should be tracking towards the top end of that guidance range that you put out there?

Yeah, look, I think what we'd say is that if we are similar to what we saw in 2026, then we're tracking towards that midpoint of where that range sits out. Obviously, if you look at where those relativities are sitting right now, it's a little bit more favorable than that, but we do expect a bit of reversion in the back half. Yeah, I would track it that way as heading towards the midpoint, then we're probably in the same place we were this year.

Okay, great. That's helpful. On returns, the business has been targeting a return on capital of 10%-12%, but obviously the number for FY 2026 was a decent amount higher than that. Acknowledging that there has been some tailwinds from stream returns, as we've spoken about, has there been any change to the sustainable level of returns on capital you think Fonterra can deliver going forward?

Look, we said when we put out the 10%-12% that that was a post-Mainland average, I think is the way for us to think about that. Obviously we'd much rather be at the top end of that range. We have a few tailwinds through 2026, but we also have some other investment to do as well, which obviously we announced that today as well. I think we're in a space where certainly the top end of that range is where we would like to be. Some years we're going to be a bit ahead of that if we've got some relativities, tailwinds, and then sometimes it might be a little bit below that, but we're not changing the 10%-12% in terms of our ongoing outlook.

Okay, great. Last one from me. What kind of things are you seeing in terms of disruption to the supply chain, given the situation that's still going on in Iran and the Middle East?

Yeah. I think if we look at that, we've done pretty well in terms of actually getting product up to the Middle East and actually into customers' hands. If you look a little bit of sales seasoning this year, well, I'll say this year, in 2026, you will have noticed a little bit more into the back half. So we definitely had some delays as we saw that play out. So it's taking a little bit longer for our product to get up there. But we are now reliably getting product up and through into the Middle East. So we're feeling pretty good about that. The relationship that we have with Kotahi, which is a joint venture we have with Silver Fern Farms, that has given us really good access to shipping, and that's really allowed us to continue to get product where it needs to go. We are taking a little bit longer. It is a little bit more expensive, but we are reliably getting product up there.

Great. Thanks, guys.

Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. We will now pause a short moment for any further questions to register. Once again, if you wish to ask a question, please press star one. There are no further questions at this time. I will now hand back to Richard Allen for closing remarks.