RIDLEY CORPORATION LIMITED — Call Transcript 2004

Nov 4, 2004

Attention ASX Company Announcements Platform Lodgement of Open Briefing

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Ridley Corporation Limited Level 10 12 Castlereagh Street Sydney, New South Wales 2000

Date of lodgement: 05-Nov-2004

Title: Open Briefing. Ridley. CFO on Ridley Inc Q1 Result

Record of interview:

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Ridley Corporation Limited said today that Ridley Inc. its 69 percent owned. Canadian listed subsidiary, reported a net loss after tax of US$1.3 for the first quarter ended September 2004 versus a profit of US$2.5million for the previous corresponding quarter. What were the reasons for the poor result?

CFO Ian Wilton

At the operating level, Ridley Inc was profitable. The result for the quarter however included an asset write down of US$1.3 million reflecting the closure of the St Paul, Alberta feed mill and severance payments and other restructuring costs of about US$1.0 million.

The underlying operations were profitable, although they had a sluggish start to the year. In the traditional feed businesses, volumes were unchanged from a year ago in the US but down 11 percent in Canada. Combined volumes were down 4 percent. The Canadian operations continue to be negatively affected by the ongoing closure of the US/Canadian border for live cattle movements and the poor market for Canadian pork producers, which has resulted in producer liquidation and consolidation. Block supplement volumes were restricted as producers held off purchases due to the volatile ingredient market and adverse weather conditions, particularly in the south-east of the country.

These soft market conditions were exacerbated by a very sharp drop in soya bean meal and canola meal prices in July. The rapid and unexpected drop in prices for

these proteins impacted operating earnings by US$1.2 million due to losses in inventory values and purchase commitment costs.

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Can you provide more detail on the severance and restructuring costs?

CFO Ian Wilton

Ridley Inc's management has implemented an aggressive cost reduction program that will see a reduction in manpower of approximately 80, or 7 percent of the workforce, and significant cuts in discretionary expenditure such as marketing and travel costs and employee benefits. Annualised savings of US$8.3 million are planned with a net impact, after severance costs, of US$6.0 million in the current year ending June 2005.

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What has been Ridley Inc's progress in integrating the Sweetlix feed supplement business, which was acquired in July?

CFO Ian Wilton

Integration of the business with Ridley's existing block supplements business is progressing well. Production and earnings to date however have been hampered by the four hurricanes that hit the south-eastern US recently. One of Sweetlix's plants was forced to close for several days, as serious flooding and disruptions to transportation affected both inbound shipments of ingredients and outbound feed product shipments.

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What is the outlook for Ridley Inc for the remainder of the year?

CFO Ian Wilton

Assuming Ridley Inc is successful in implementing its cost reduction program, and we'll be monitoring that closely here in Australia, and on the basis of current trends in feed volumes, we expect Ridley Inc's net earnings for 2005 to exceed last year's US$8.1 million by 40 to 50 percent.

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At your recent AGM, the CEO said that for 2005 you expected Ridley's overall net profit to be up to 50 percent higher than last year's post-tax result of $18 million. Does Ridley Inc's first quarter result alter this guidance?

CFO Ian Wilton No.

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Thank you Ian.

For more information about Ridley Corporation, visit www.ridley.com.au or contact Ian Wilton on $(+61 2)$ 8227 6100

For previous Open Briefings with Ridley Corporation, or to receive future Open Briefings by e-mail, visit www.corporatefile.com.au