First Milk’s turnover has leapt by 20% after the co-operative’s balance sheet was buoyed by its first full year of ownership of BV Dairy.
Hailing “solid business performance” in the face of a subdued UK and export market, CEO Shelagh Hancock said the farmer-owned dairy group had been able to achieve its objective of delivering “above average” market total returns to its members.
First Milk turned over £570m in the year to 31 March 2025, up 19.7% from £476m in 2024, thanks largely to the BV Dairy deal alongside higher volumes of milk, whey protein and specialist chilled products – reflecting growing consumer demand for high-quality, protein-rich and gut-health dairy products, it said.
Operating profit also rose strongly, up 22% to £20.5m, and net bank debt remained stable at £66m, up from £64.9m, despite a £3.9m capex investment campaign.
The group’s strong performance has allowed it to pay off the majority of its outstanding loan notes from its February 2024 acquisition of soft dairy product specialist BV Dairy, also known as Blackmore Vale Farm Cream.
The B2B Co-op, owned by 700 farming families across Britain, also completed a restructure into three key business units: cheese, milk, and BV, which produces goods including soft cheese, cultured creams, yoghurt and kefir.
Hancock said the restructure would help First Milk better support customers both commercially and with their ESG goals, and represented “important progress” in adding value to both members and customers.
First Milk also recorded a 6.3% increase in land entering its regenerative agriculture programme and, despite an overall rise in emissions of 166,000 tonnes thanks to its growth, managed to cut like-for-like carbon intensity by 3.2% on milk supplied by members.
The co-operative aims to reach net zero by 2040.
Chief impact officer Mark Brooking said: “As more land enters our regenerative programme, members are making increasingly meaningful and higher-quality interventions per hectare – working with nature to improve biodiversity, enhance habitat quality and better manage water.”
Hancock added: “Ultimately our vision is to enrich life every day to secure the future for our members, colleagues, customers and communities. We will do this by ensuring First Milk is a distinctive, regenerative farmer-owned co-operative, efficiently producing great-tasting, quality dairy products for our customers and consumers.”
First Milk recently appointed former Samworth Brothers CEO Hugo Mahoney as its new chairman to succeed outgoing Chris Thomas, following the completion of his third term.
The co-op employs around 480 staff, predominantly at its creameries in the Lake District, Pembrokeshire and Dorset.
No comments yet