PPCS briefing shareholder chance to comment

Keith Cooper
Keith Cooper
Shareholders in Dunedin meat company PPCS will next week be briefed on company activities but are also expected to tell directors their views on the failed meat mega merger.

PPCS chief executive Keith Cooper said the timing of the four South Island road show meetings was dictated by the relevance of other information to be presented and not by the recent debate over the failed merger.

He said shareholders could raise the failed merger or any other topic they wished to discuss.

Mr Cooper said shareholders would be updated on the company's right-size project - matching processing capacity with livestock supply, the company's business strategy and a market update.

The farmer ginger organisation Meat Industry Action Group (MIAG) has been encouraging shareholders to force management and directors to hold meetings about the failed merger, and they appear to have succeeded to some extent.

MIAG has issued open letters to the boards of the two meat co-operatives, PPCS and Alliance Group, requesting the two companies enter mediation and appoint an independent chairman and the staff necessary to develop a business plan and analysis for industry consolidation.

The request was based on a resolution passed at a farmer meeting in Gore last month called to discuss the failed merger proposal.

In the letter to the PPCS board, MIAG said a letter from PPCS to its shareholders following the decision not to proceed with the merger was "destructive".

The letter also said statements from chairman Eoin Garden, that a merger along the lines of the Alliance proposal was the ultimate solution for the long-term sustainability and profitability of the New Zealand meat industry, were not backed up by the company's actions.

MIAG asked Alliance directors why they did not engage with PPCS earlier than three days before publicly announcing its restructuring proposal, and failed to appoint an independent chairman to oversee the process.

Because of this, MIAG said it held Alliance directors accountable for the early breakdown in negotiations.

Add a Comment