Electric-fence maker says time is right

By Philippa Stevenson

HAMILTON - The head of the world's biggest electric-fence company, Bill Gallagher, named today in the New Year's Honours list, has been applying his successful business principles to catching crayfish.

Yesterday, from his boat off the Coromandel coast he said the best crayfishing in 30 years was so good "we've been throwing legal [sized] ones back."

"Play by the rules - which we do - and there is plenty for all."

The comment could also be pplied to his Hamilton family firm's achievements in the worldwide electric-fencing industry it helped create.

Two of the nearest rivals to the pioneering Gallagher Group are home grown.

"We've led the world market in electric fencing, and we're not the only New Zealanders who have benefited," he said. "Our New Zealand competitors have also benefited from that."

Mr Gallagher, previously made an MBE, has been made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for his services to business and export.

He said the honour had come as a surprise because he had been "just doing what I normally do."

But he acknowledged there had been a greater purpose to the export marketing role which until recently kept him overseas for about a third of each year.

"If you are going to sell fencing you have to teach them how to farm. Low-cost [New Zealand-style] grassland farming is one of our crusades. I believe if we are ever going to have free trade in agriculture, then expounding the methods of how to farm without subsidies is a pretty important component of it."

The company has also moved into what Mr Gallagher calls the "two-legged livestock business." Security fencing is outperforming agriculture products in South Africa and the United Kingdom, and there is a big demand for prison systems in the United States and Australia.

Mr Gallagher said that next year the company, which employs 300 people in Hamilton and Pukekohe and 450 in overseas subsidiaries, would try to make its European operation more efficient.

He said the secret of the firm's export success had been building long-term relationships, doing the right thing and integrity.

"We have an export-friendly dollar and as long as you have got good customers - because the world is in a pretty tight situation - for an exporter now is a good time to succeed."