Wrangle distracts industry

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON

A key figure in the PPCS battle for control of rival meat company Richmond wants to see attention turn to a more fundamental industry concern - how to market more sheep meat.

David Joll, managing director of Bernard Matthews UK - whose New Zealand subsidiary, North Meats, has spent more than $8 million buying 10.5 per cent of Richmond - said the investment was motivated by a desire to secure increasing supplies of lamb from the Hawkes Bay company.

"I am exceptionally anxious to extend the distribution of Bernard Matthews-branded lamb in the UK," Joll told the Business Herald during a visit to New Zealand last week.

"By taking the shareholding in Richmond, it's clearly indicating to that company and to Hawkes Bay farmers our interest in the future of what's become a good supplier to the company. We are not in on any power play, we are just wishing to secure sources of supply and I think the shareholding indicates that."

Joll said the company's investment said nothing about its attitude to PPCS. He had had no contact with the Dunedin-based company, nor with another recent investor in Richmond, Lowe Corporation, during his visit.

"We just want to be considered," he said. "We think we have a part to play. We have been consistently returning higher prices per tonne for product back to New Zealand against a background of declining New Zealand lamb sales in the UK."

Bernard Matthews, a powerful British brand in meat, poultry and ready-made meals, last year increased its sales of lamb by 8 per cent in supermarkets which stock up to 45,000 product lines and where sales of meat competitors, such as pasta, have rocketed.

Joll said he was only interested in talking to people about meat supplies, and more importantly, about marketing.

"I think I'd much rather turn the focus to the problems of marketing in the world rather than spending so much time worrying about domestic matters," he said.

"We think we have been fair to New Zealand since 1984 when we started marketing lamb.

"We have only ever bought New Zealand lamb and we don't want to have our sources of supply interrupted at all. Quite the opposite. We wish to increase them."

He considered New Zealand lamb the best in the world but its marketing left a lot to be desired.

Bernard Matthews' success against a trend of declining sales of lamb in Britain must say something.

"It's worrying the average age of a lamb consumer is now getting to be too high. We're not bringing in the younger consumer. We should be worrying - why aren't the teenagers, why aren't the 20 and 30-year-olds eating lamb? We're trying to address that."

Bernard Matthews was continually launching new products including cooked, marinated, spiced or herb-coated lamb as well as offering fixed-weight, traditional cuts which had a consistent cooking time.

"We're giving tenderness guarantees, we're trying to do the job properly, we've made the packaging attractive and its seems to be working," Joll said.

Richmond had supplied to strict quality specifications.

"We've ended up with an integrated supply chain where the farmers have cooperated, [and so have] Richmond and others. We have a very strong association with the Hickson family that own Progressive Meats. We've all worked together to, in the jargon, go from pasture to plate to produce a very consistent product packaged and marketed well."

Bernard Matthews was keeping an open mind on the level of its stake in Richmond but Joll reiterated that the company had no plans to take over the company.