Major Aussie cheese brand sold at Woolworths, Coles and IGA goes bust
- Award-winning dairy company goes bankrupt
- KPMG has taken over the audit
An award-winning dairy company has gone bankrupt.
Beston Global Food Company has announced that it has entered voluntary administration.
The South Australian-based company had 159 employees in the state and was the parent company behind the Edwards Crossing Cheese Company and Mable’s brands.
The brands were stocked in supermarkets across Australia, including Woolworths, Coles and IGA.
In addition to the well-known cheese brands, the company also sells whey and lactoferrin proteins to manufacturers of pharmaceutical products and nutritional supplements.
KPMG has taken control of the company.
Beston blamed high energy costs and falling milk prices for the downfall.
It was also said that successive interest rate hikes over the past two years had increased the company’s debt.
“Over the past 12 months, Beston has experienced exceptionally high operating costs, primarily due to high energy prices at a time when Australian milk prices were uncompetitive in the global marketplace,” it said in a statement to the ASX.
It was also claimed that the Australian Dairy Code legislation had inadvertently made things more difficult for dairy processors.
‘(It) fails to recognise the volatile nature of the global dairy market and does not allow for appropriate price signals to be captured from movements in supply and demand. It has contributed to the closure of 11 dairy processing plants in Australia in the past 18 months.’
more to come.
Beston Global Food Company, the manufacturer of Edwards Crossing (pictured) and Mabels cheeses, has gone into voluntary bankruptcy
The brands were stocked in supermarkets across Australia, including Woolworths, Coles and IGA (stock image)
Beston also produced Mable’s cheeses, which featured prominently on supermarket cheese shelves along with the Edwards Crossing brand