At a meeting in Halmstad, Sweden, the board of representatives decided how much of Arla’s annual profit for the 2016 financial year should be paid out as supplementary payment and how much should be consolidated into the Arla Group for further investments in new strategic growth opportunities for the company.
Arla’s annual result for distribution to owners:
€124m ($131m) for supplementary payment
€30m ($32m) for individual retainment
€73m ($77m) for common retainment
€120m ($126m) from the divestment of Rynkeby retained for strategic re-investing
Total net profit of the Arla Group in 2016 grew 20.7% to €356m ($375m), of which the profit share of Arla Foods amba is €347m ($366m), corresponding to 3.6% of group revenue.
Excluding the profit from divestments, which remains in the company for re-investment, the available annual result for allocation for 2016 was €227m ($239m).
Of this, the board of directors had proposed €124m ($131m) would be paid out directly to Arla’s farmer-owners, with €103m ($109m) being retained in the company (partly as individual retainment that each farmer-owner can take with him/her when their membership ends, partly as common retainment that remains in the company as equity and for strategic re-investing).
Arla’s board of representatives consists of 191 members, comprised of 12 employee representatives and 179 elected farmer-owners from various regions in Denmark, Sweden, UK, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.