Clover Industries, the South Africa-based food group, has published more details on its move to spin-off a business that sells its low-margin milk products.

In December, Clover announced it was forming a “special purpose vehicle”, Dairy Farmers of South Africa Proprietary Ltd, to produce its low-margin dairy products under licence. DFSA was to produce milk, UHT milk, ultra-pasteurised milk under the Clover brand and sell it directly to trade and consumers. It was also to become the preferred supplier of all Clover’s raw milk requirements.

Discover B2B Marketing That Performs

Combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach engaged professionals across 36 leading media platforms.

Find out more

The announcement in December saw Clover state it would “address the issue of raw milk price determination in this process” to limit its exposure to the cycles in supply and demand of raw milk. Clover also said DFSA would initially be a wholly-owned subsidiary, with a further transaction to be carried out by 30 June 2017 that would see the company keep “a strategic shareholding” in the spun-off business.

This week, Clover provided more details on those two points. It said the price of the raw milk supplied by DFSA would be determined by “market forces”. Clover also said 74% of the shares in DFSA would be made available to the new business’ milk producers, taking its stake down to 26%.

Clover added: “Clover’s business presently comprises two main elements. Firstly, it has a low margin business where profitability is primarily driven by volumes. Secondly, Clover sells and supplies certain high margin or value-added products including but not limited to custards, yoghurts, certain cheeses, infant products and the like to third parties. Unlike the low-margin business where profitability is driven primarily by volumes, profitability in the high-margin business is less dependent on volumes.”

GlobalData Strategic Intelligence

US Tariffs are shifting - will you react or anticipate?

Don’t let policy changes catch you off guard. Stay proactive with real-time data and expert analysis.

By GlobalData

Just Food Excellence Awards - Nominations Closed

Nominations are now closed for the Just Food Excellence Awards. A big thanks to all the organisations that entered – your response has been outstanding, showcasing exceptional innovation, leadership, and impact.

Excellence in Action
Winning five categories in the 2025 Just Food Excellence Awards, Centric Software is setting the pace for digital transformation in food and FMCG. Explore how its integrated PLM and PXM suite delivers faster launches, smarter compliance and data-driven growth for complex, multi-channel product portfolios.

Discover the Impact