Beston CEO upbeat despite $21.9 million loss

Technical problems at Beston Global Foods’ Jervois dairy factory have contributed to a challenging year for the company.

It reported a $21.9 million annual loss to the Australian Stock Exchange on Friday.

Plant reliability issues at Jervois had cost the company about $13 million, chief executive officer Darren Flew said.

Replacement parts had been hard to get from overseas, and shipping problems had also slowed the company’s expansion into producing lactoferrin, a valuable by-product of the cheese-making process.

Still, Mr Flew said those problems had been fixed and were now in the past.

With the lactoferrin plant expansion now complete and greater milk supplies secured, Beston was now on a path towards profitability, he said.

Chairman Roger Sexton agreed.

“This past year was clearly a challenging and extremely difficult one for the company,” he said.

“That said, it is also clear that Beston has built significant momentum heading into (2021-22).”

The company expected to bring in revenue of between $160 million and $185 million in 2021-22, and to produce more than 15,000 tonnes of mozzarella and 18 tonnes of lactoferrin.

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