It is interesting ay imback, although I guess to be fair to...

It is interesting ay imback, although I guess to be fair to Synlait, although they produce 100% of Akarola, they only have a 25% stake in New Hope Nutritionals, the owner of the Akarola brand, New Hope as the controlling interest probably have the dominant say over the price points.

Synlait are smart operators though, I think they have done well to pick up that 25%, they paid only a token NZ$2M for it, would you believe, and I suspect it came at that price because they have guaranteed to New Hope that only Synlait's commercial partners may be offered the Synlait Sure quality mark, which leaves A2M a bit out in the cold

It would be a prospective option I reckon for A2M and SML to partner up also, perhaps for a D4 dryer build, but I'm not sure how that could work, both balance sheets may not allow it ?

One could argue that it would make good business sense for Synlait to prioritise the production of their partners over, well just customers like A2M, but, we don’t know what the incentivising margin is that A2M are paying to Synlait for a2 farm management.

Judging by the efforts Synlait are going to, it may just be that they are making more per unit from A2M than from New Hope, even given the 25% retail profits Synlait take from Akarola at the lower price point,