CFM-Hellaby deal

Press, 4 July 1985, Page 28

CFM-Hellaby deal

Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, Ltd, is negotiating to buy the export meat processing and marketing divisions of R. and W. Hellaby, Ltd, the companies announced yesterday. The directors met in Auckland to discuss the proposal, and they said that an agreement would be signed soon. The Press Association reports from Auckland that a company spokesman said last evening the discussions centred on the sale of meat processing works at Taumarunui, Whangarei, and Otahuhu. If the sale were to go ahead it would leave Hellaby largely as a meat

seller rather than a meat processor and seller. Among remaining operations would be shops in Auckland, Christchurch, and Dunedin, Hellaby Peach Products, Ltd, and Vienna Foods, Ltd, and some overseas subsidiaries and associates. CFM already holds more than 40 per cent of R. and W. Hellaby, and the latest move signals a further rationalisation in the meat industry, after the release of the Meat Industry Council’s report on the meat industry from the farm gate to the wharf, in April. CFM is also the subject of a take-over offer from Apex Group, Ltd, which already

has a majority interest. Apex is the listed investment arm of the Primary Producers’ Co-operative Society, Ltd, the Dunedinbased farmer co-operative. Hellaby Meats, Ltd, a subsidiary of R. and W. Hellaby, announced last week that it was selling its 22 butchers’ stores in the Wellington region and laying off 82 staff. R. and W. Hellaby has had a chequered profit career recently, announcing a $4.6 million loss in the year to September 30, and reporting a pre-tax profit of $2.2M, before extraordinary earnings of $781,000, in the six months to March 31.