Fonterra has posted an after tax profit of $659 million for the 2020 financial year, a $1.3 billion improvement on the previous year.

The New Zealand dairy co-operative's chief executive Miles Hurrell says it was a good year for the business with profit up, debt down and a strong milk price.

'We increased our profit after tax by more than $1b, reduced our debt by more than $1b and this has put us in a position to start paying dividends again,” Mike says.

It will pay a dividend of 5 cents per share.

The result is a vast improvement on the $605m loss it made in the 2019 financial year, which was largely a result of massive asset write downs.

Fonterra's unit price is trading on the New Zealand stock exchange at $4.05, up 85 cents over the past year.

-Stuff