China's supply of baby formula from Bellamy's Australia may face delay as trouble in the company's board has stalled its registration with China Food and Drug Administration (CFDA), the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
"Unless Bellamy's achieves China CFDA Registrations by mid-2017, its future in China is cactus," Jerome Nugent-Smith, chairman and CEO of Montreux Management, was quoted as saying.
Infant formula marketer Bellamy's Australia had earlier announced that it needs to be registered with the CFDA starting Jan. 1, 2018, to be able to sell infant formula to China.
Bellamy's also informed the market that it "may need to seek CFDA registration discussion with other manufacturers, as well as Bega," following Bega Cheese's announcement that it plans to sell its infant formula plant at Derrimut in Victoria.
"Bellamy's has multiple alternatives available, including accessing the CFDA registration of an alternative canning line that currently produces Bellamy's products," Bellamy's said in a statement.
"Bellamy's remains confident it can achieve registration of its infant formula product series with CFDA in a timely manner to preserve continuity of supply for [China] product beyond the implementation date of 1 January 2018," it added.
Bellamy's was favored by Chinese consumers who prefer organic products but following low sales during the Singles Day event, the company has been losing earnings. In late 2015, it traded as high as $16.50 until shares fell to $4.27 and it stopped trading.
Aside from this, Bellamy's is also having troubles with its board. Recently, Jan Cameron, co-founder of Kathmandu retail chain, failed to secure a seat on the board but managed to oust some existing directors and get two of her associates appointed.
The change came following a general meeting of shareholders to vote on the board's new directors. Although Cameron's bid to replace Patria Mann was rejected, shareholders voted for her two associates, Chan Wai-Chan and Rodd Peters, a lawyer from Sydney, as directors. Michael Wadley and Charles Sitch were both voted off the board.
Wadley acted as interim chairman of the meeting after chairman Rob Woolley resigned before the meeting started. Director Launa Inman also resigned.
Cameron said she was happy with the outcome of the vote, despite losing her bid.
"No, because I think the incoming directors will actually be better than me, and the appointments they will make in the future will be more suited to the company's requirements," Cameron said.
Peters, one of Cameron's associates, told shareholders that his legal experience could help Bellamy's, which is facing several class actions.
"We recognize it is a great Australian company but we do believe it has been failed by its board," Peters said.