Latest / Best of Business / Richard Wyeth: Synlait CEO on the $80.6 million half-year loss, future of the company

Transcript

Richard Wyeth: Synlait CEO on the $80.6 million half-year loss, future of the company · Best of Business

• 0:09
  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from news Talk zed B.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Follow this and our wide range of podcasts now on
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: iHeartRadio Small Irony.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: In the same day, Fontira reinforces its success with the
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: Stonking profit Poor Old Sinlay posts an eighty point six
• 0:22
  Speaker 2: million dollar a half a year lost debts up eighty
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: eight percent. Revenue is rising, though, So there's something Richard Wyeth,
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: as the CEO ofson Lane, was with us good Morning Morning, like,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: how hard is the slog at the moment?
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: It's probably the most challenging period I've had in the
• 0:38
  Speaker 3: close to twenty years in the industry.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Street So at what stage you turn around?
• 0:42
  Speaker 4: Are you.
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: Well, we're at a point where the next probably five
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: to six months are pretty critical for us. We've got
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: the sale of the North islandlesset coming up, which is great,
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: so we need to execute that. We still need to
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: catch up on a backlog for our advanced nutrition which
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: will take probably four to five months, and then we
• 0:59
  Speaker 3: can really focus forward.
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Are you confident?
• 1:03
  Speaker 4: Yeah? Absolutely.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: It comes down to us sexecuting operationally, so getting operational
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: stability quality under control.
• 1:09
  Speaker 4: We haven't been brilliant at that over the last few years,
• 1:12
  Speaker 4: so we.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: Really need to get focused on that, simplify the business
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: and move forward.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: So you say, am, that's that Pocono manufacturing. But how
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: big a deal is that? And once that's cleared, you're
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: off and running.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's huge for us, Mike.
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: I mean in the past obviously for a number of
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: years since that was built, it's been a drag.
• 1:28
  Speaker 4: On the business. So to execute that sale.
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: It's a fantastic as set that's been well sold, so
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: that helps with the balance sheet, but it also takes
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: noise out of the business and just sympathize. It allows
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: us to really get stuck into the done sandal site.
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: Without getting into the weeds the stuff you got back
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: to Dune Sandal and you had to do something with it,
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and what you were going to do all of that
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: is that one off. Was that just a series of
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: bad events and we can look through it or not.
• 1:55
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's the key thing. They are largely resolved.
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: It's as say, it was an insurable event, so we're
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: not we can't control the timing of payment or when
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: that's going to happen.
• 2:03
  Speaker 4: But yeah, they are large one offs.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: But the thing is when you're manufacturing instance, you know
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: there are always things that can go wrong, and it's
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: a complex business, so you've got to be right on
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: your game. If you do it poorly, if you make
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: them stop feed, if you do it really well, you
• 2:18
  Speaker 3: make a lot of money.
• 2:18
  Speaker 4: So we need to get back to make money.
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: Because for people who don't follow this, you know, an
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: aren't and the weeds. They look at Fonterra yesterday and
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: they go that's they're making money like this now tomorrow
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: they look at you. You're not. So you know, how
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: come if you can't make money and dairy at the moment,
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: what are you doing?
• 2:35
  Speaker 4: Yeah, that's fair.
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: I mean basically it comes down to our ability to
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: execute at an operational level and quality level, and.
• 2:42
  Speaker 4: As I say, we haven't done that well enough in
• 2:44
  Speaker 4: the past, so we need to get sorted in and
• 2:48
  Speaker 4: make that happen.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: The good news at ten ten per kilo, they're good numbers, aren't.
• 2:51
  Speaker 4: They fantastic for the families absolutely yeah.
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: And no guidance though, so you're on one hand telling
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: are you're confident, but then you can't offer guidance.
• 3:00
  Speaker 4: Well, we need to.
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: Yeah, we need to deliver the next five months and
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: then I'll be in a position where I can say,
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: right the business is steady, state, We're moving forward.
• 3:06
  Speaker 4: So look at says.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: Trying to be prudent and a little bit conservative given
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: given our background in industry.
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: All right, well, go well with it, Appreciate it. Richard Wyeth,
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: who's with CINLAS.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: For more from News Talks ed B Listen live on
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: air or online, and keep our shows with you wherever
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: you go with our podcasts on iHeartRadio.