PARIS (dpa-AFX) - French dairy giant Danone SA (DANOY.PK) said that it has been awarded damages of 105 million euros to be paid immediately by Fonterra for costs suffered as a result of the Fonterra food safety failures of 2013.
Danone said it welcomed the arbitration decision as a guarantee that the lessons from the crisis will not be forgotten.
In reacting to the announcement, Fonterra's CEO, Theo Spierings, said 'We are disappointed that the arbitration tribunal did not fully recognise the terms of our supply agreement with Danone, including the agreed limitations of liability, which was the basis on which we had agreed to do business.'
Fonterra said that it has assessed the potential financial implications of the decision and made a prudent decision to revise its forecast earnings per share range for the 2017/18 financial year to 35 to 45 cents, down from 45 to 55 cents.
The decision has no impact on the forecast Farmgate Milk Price.
The arbitration followed events in August 2013 when Fonterra issued a precautionary recall advice to some customers who had been supplied with its WPC80 ingredient and products containing WPC80. It was later confirmed that there had been no food safety risk to the public.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX