Fitch blames farmer support loan and advance payments for Fonterra ratings downgrade

Tue, 08 Dec 2015

By Fiona Rotherham Dec. 9 (BusinessDesk) - Fitch Ratings says there were two key reasons it downgraded Fonterra Cooperative Group’s credit rating in October, stemming from when the dairy exporter shored up the financial health of farmer-shareholders after dairy prices dropped to the detriment on its own financial strength. The ratings agency yesterday released a report providing further detail for the downgrade to A from AA- which followed Standard & Poor’s cut to Fonterra’s rating from A to A-, also on the back of debt concerns. Credit d...

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