PPCS to merge formally

PPCS will formally amalgamate with Hawkes Bay meat company Richmond in the coming weeks, with the parent company to be known as just PPCS.

However, the Richmond name will live on.

North Island plants will continue to be identified as such and Richmond-branded products will be sold.

At operational level, the two meat companies already operate as one entity, and that will be legally confirmed when they amalgamate.

"It's a legal and administration issue," PPCS chief operating officer Keith Cooper said.

Senior management will function as one.

PPCS said the main driver of the move was North Island farmer shareholding in the co-operative.

"It also simplifies the group's borrowing configuration and introduces a more effective structure," chief executive Stewart Barnett said in a newsletter to suppliers.

Over time there would be some changes to branding and on some paperwork.

"The Richmond brand is being retained for use in the markets and will therefore still appear on many products," he said.

A North Island Supplier Council of six farmers has been created to meet PPCS directors and senior management regularly, until the council is represented by directors on the PPCS board.

The council is made up of prominent farmers Neil Aicken, Trevor Johnson, Peter Reeves, Angus Mabin, Alec Jack and Alistair Polson.

This is the final chapter in a six-year takeover battle of Richmond by the Dunedin-based co-operative PPCS.

- NZPA