Affco says goodbye to city life

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

Meat company Affco will shift its head office to its Horotiu plant, near Hamilton, ending an association of nearly a century with Auckland.

Chief executive Tony Egan said yesterday that the 65 staff at Affco's Swanson St headquarters would be offered a range of options, including shifting, redundancy and working from home.

The shift, to be completed by December, is not unexpected from a company that has spent years cutting costs.

That effort reached new heights in the past 18 months under chairman Sam Lewis, who last month relinquished the executive role to Egan.

The latest restructuring included a $9 million reduction in head office costs, and cutting salaried staff from 650 to 250.

It also raised the question of the benefits to Affco of a central Auckland location when processing is done in eight sites from Northland to Manawatu, and marketing is done by telephone.

Egan said the company - in the city for 98 years - had assessed alternatives.

Horotiu had won over another proposal to build new premises at Wiri in South Auckland.

It had been decided the company was best sited "well and truly within the farming community", he said.

"Horotiu is in the heart of our supplier base, and provides us with the opportunity to relocate into existing accommodation owned by the company."

Staff occupied barely four floors of the leased Affco House, compared with eight a year ago, and the company would try to sub-lease the space for the five years the lease had to run.

The cost of the shift was unknown, but savings were expected to be $1 million a year, Egan said.

The downside would be the disruption to the lives of staff, "but other than that I don't see why a meat company needs to be in downtown Auckland".

"There is certainly not a lot of grass around the office here."

Business relations - including with Affco's major shareholder, Nelson-based Talley's Fisheries - were unlikely to be affected by the move.

Egan said the company had been encouraged to move to Hamilton, where the decision was likely to be greeted warmly.