TEXT-Australia's Goodman Fielder within banking limits

(The following statement was released by the company)

WELLINGTON, March 5 - In responding to an article in today's Australian Financial Review, Goodman Fielder's Managing Director, Mr Peter Margin has repudiated many of the assertions made in the article.

"We remain comfortably within our banking covenants and in the last 12 months we have successfully refinanced debt of $770 million. We have a conservatively geared balance sheet and we are very comfortable with a debt to (debt+equity) of 31% and an interest cover of more than four times.

"Any suggestion that we are under pressure on our covenants is just plain wrong.

"Our strategic review is well advanced and we are not anticipating any significant write downs as a result of this process.

"When we reach a conclusion at the end of the strategic review, we will announce it to the market."