Silver Fern Farms remains tight-lipped over suggestions a Chinese-owned multinational is in the final stages of negotiations to buy into the company.
That was reported this week by the National Business Review, which understood a delegation had travelled to China to pursue the transaction.
A Silver Fern Farms spokesman said yesterday there were no further updates on its capital-raising process and information would be given when there was ''something to announce''.
Last month, the company suspended trading of its shares on the unlisted exchange until further notice.
A recent newsletter sent to suppliers said it called the halt as it wanted all investors who might be trading shares to do so in a fully informed manner, and it could not provide information due to the confidential due diligence process with potential investors.
The company expected to bring the process to a conclusion in the next two to four weeks and, if a compelling proposition was tabled, recommend it to shareholders.
The company remained on track for full-year earnings before interest, tax and depreciation amortisation (ebitda) in the $75 million to $85 million range, and year-end debt now looked like being in the $140 million to $170 million range, compared with $289 million last year.
It had hit some significant production milestones this season, processing more than 735,000 cattle for the first time since 2004.
Despite strong processing numbers, Silver Fern Farms had managed to record some of its lowest inventory levels by maintaining a disciplined approach in procuring stock to match customer orders, and by a strong focus on shipping inventory out of store, the update said.
