KEY POINTS:
Publicity from winning an award in the United States will help listed Kiwi milk company A2 Corporation find more partners, says chief executive Anthony Lawler.
A2 owns and licenses intellectual property for identifying cows and producing and marketing milk with the A2 beta-casein protein.
US magazine Dairy Foods has named the milk best new product of the year in the special needs area.
A2 set up a joint-venture company with US functional foods and nutraceutical business Ideasphere and launched into the US market through about 150 Hy-Vee supermarkets in April.
"Our key aim from now on in is to get what we've learnt from the Hy-Vee test market up in the Mid-West and then take our successes there and go out to other potential partners," Lawler said.
There are two types of milk, A1 and A2, which are usually mixed together. The A1 beta-casein - a gene carried by about half of New Zealand cows - has been linked by some people to heart disease, diabetes and schizophrenia.
Shares rose 2c to 22c yesterday.
A2 had a net loss of $1.6 million in the half-year ending September 30 and was looking at raising more capital early in the New Year.
In October A2 signed an exclusive licensing deal with South Korean dairy company Lotte Milk, which distributes nationwide in Korea and planned to convert 60 per cent of its fresh milk volume within three years.
Signing the Korean agreement was probably the year's crowning achievement, Lawler said.
In New Zealand licensee Fresha Valley Processors has recently begun supplying A2 milk to a selection of Progressive Enterprises stores.
