Craig Norgate addresses the PGG Wrightson annual meeting at the Ellerslie Events Centre yesterday. Photo / Martin Sykes
Craig Norgate - one of the brains behind the merger of Pyne Gould Guinness and Wrightson back in 2005 - took over as chairman of the listed rural services supplier at its annual meeting in Auckland yesterday.
Speaking after the meeting, PGG Wrightson chief executive Barry Brook said
there was strong board support for Norgate, who had previously been deputy chairman.
"He has a superb mind and he has a grasp of the issues right across from detailed financial issues ... to the global strategic issues," Brook said.
Brook paid tribute to retiring chairman Bill Baylis, who he said had been vindicated in his views of the merger.
"He was one of the people who masterminded the thing ... so he was certainly recognised for that."
Shareholders had shown interest in developments in South America and Uruguay, Brook said.
"There's a growing level of comfort with what we're doing there. We're getting scale and substance, and we're getting success there."
PGG Wrightson has the fund and farm manager contracts for a company called New Zealand Farming Systems Uruguay - which may list on the NZX at the end of the year.
"So what we're doing is buying the land and converting the farms to dairy farms and introducing the New Zealand grass-fed systems."
The company also has seed business interests in the country, including AgarCross Uruguay.
PGG Wrightson's shares closed down 3c yesterday at $2.
