Fonterra, a New Zealand multinational dairy co-operative has announced closure of its Wellington plant.

The plant, which produces Kāpiti products, employs 70 staff, but Fonterra CEO Miles Hurrell says it is not yet clear how many job cuts there will be.

The operation is to move to the company's Eltham, Taranaki cheese plant, where 35 more jobs will be created. Hurrell also said there were likely to be more job cuts across the business, most likely among senior roles.

According to reports, Fonterra has confirmed a net loss of $605 million for the July year. This is the worst loss the company has ever reported, far exceeding the $196m posted last year.

The company has announced widespread plans to clean its house and turn the business around. Hurrell sahred, "Many of these calls were painful, but they were needed to reset our business and achieve success in the future.”We made the decision to reduce the carrying value of several of our assets and take account of one-off accounting adjustments."

Fonterra is also planning a new business strategy where it would move from two large central businesses, ingredients and consumer and food service, to three in-market sales and marketing units that would be close to customers. Called APAC for Asia Pacific, Greater China and AMENA covering Africa, Middle East, Europe, North Asia and the Americas, the new units would be led by a new team working under the office of the chief operating officer.

Commenting on Fonterra's new strategy, Hurrell said the aim was to unlock value focus on three goals – "healthy people, healthy environment and healthy business".

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