Aulsebrooks now Arnotts but strong locally

Press, 12 June 1986, Page 24

Aulsebrooks now Arnotts but strong locally

Aulsebrooks, Ltd, has been renamed Arnotts Biscuits NZ, Ltd. The move recognises the 100 per cent ownership of the New Zealand biscuit and confectionery manufacturer by Arnotts, Ltd, of Australia, and was also designed to take advantage of the market positioning of the Arnotts brand. Mr Paul Brosnahan, the managing director of Arnotts Biscuits NZ, Ltd, said that the move was the perfect blend of the positive features of both Tasman operations. "While we have access to Arnotts’ sophisticated biscuit technology and marketing expertise, we remain essentially a very successful New Zealand company with New Zealand management and a strong commitment to the home market,” he said.

It was an approach to Arnotts by Mr Brosnahan and the then chairman of Aulsebrooks, Mr Bob Gunn, in 1982, that set the take-over in motion. “Historically, Aulsebrooks had a technical agreement with Associated Biscuits in the U.K., who produced biscuits under the Huntley and Palmer brand. Distance made that arrangement increasingly impractical. So we approached Arnotts in Australia to access their well-developed manufacturing technology, which we badly needed to develop into a more aggressive market force,” said Mr Brosnahan. After Arnotts had purchased a 50 per cent share in the company from the Goodman Group in October, 1983, Aulsebrooks introduced in little more than a year 24

new cracker and sweet biscuit lines. Since Arnotts had become associated with the company, nearly $5 million had been spent on upgrading the Aulsebrooks plant at Otahuhu, with greater emphasis placed on quality control, beginning with flour milled to Arnotts’ specifications. From the end of 1984, Aulsebrooks progressively launched a range of biscuits under the Arnotts brand, and rebranded some existing Aulsebrooks lines to establish Arnotts as its premium range. The Aulsebrooks brand will remain in the biscuit market after the name change, and confectionery lines will retain the Mackintosh and Rowntree brand names. Goodmans sold its remaining 50 per cent share of

Aulsebrooks to Arnotts in January this year, leading to its operation as a whollyowned subsidiary of Arnotts. Campbells Soup and the newly-formed Goodman Fielder, in turn, are majority shareholders in the Arnotts Group, with both holding more than a 20 per cent share.

In Australia, Arnotts held 75 per cent of the biscuit market and in New Zealand, through the Aulsebrooks operation, it was continuing to build on its 34 per cent market share, Mr Bresnahan said.

The company’s marketing success was reinforced last month when it won the Food and Beverage category of the New Zealand Marketing Institute’s awards for 1985 for the launch of Arnotts biscuits.