Annual Shareholders Meeting Presentation and Results
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PGG WRIGHTSON LIMITED
ANNUAL SHAREHOLDERS’ MEETING – HYBRID
9:30am, Wednesday, 25 October 2023
Slide 1 – Meeting Opening Slide
Slide 2 – Welcome – Introduction
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Slide 3 – How to participate in the Virtual/Hybrid Meeting (Q&A)
Slide 4 – How to participate in the Virtual/Hybrid Meeting (Voting)
Slide 5 – Board of Directors
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Slides 6 to 7 – Executive Team
Slide 8 – Opening Formalities
Apologies
Notice of Meeting
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Minutes
Annual Report 2023
GAAP and non-GAAP Performance Measures
Proxies and Postal Votes
Slide 9 – Business of the Meeting – Chair’s Address & CEO’s Review
Slide 10 – Deputy Chair’s Address
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Slide 11 – FY22 Financial Year Performance Highlights
Financial performance highlights for the financial year ended 30 June 2023:
• Our Operating EBITDA was $61.2 million, down 9% on the prior year.
• Net profit after tax was $17.5 million, down 28% on the prior year.
• Operating revenue of $975.7 million, up 2% on the prior year.
• Gross profit of $252.8 million, up 2% on the prior year.
• Net Cash Flow from Operating Activities of $25.5 million, up 8% on the prior year.
• Fully imputed dividends for the year of 22 cents per share.
These results were realised with margins broadly in line with the comparative period. This
is the second strongest trading performance for the business since the PGG Wrightson
Seeds divestment.
The resilient performance of PGW in volatile market conditions is perhaps the most
pleasing aspect of the result. Strong operating results were generated by most business
units with Livestock, Wool, and Water all experiencing solid demand. Rural Supplies and
Fruitfed Supplies again delivered standout performances. The exception was our Real
Estate business which continues to operate in a difficult market.
Macro trading conditions for the year were volatile with increasing input costs and
inflationary pressures, falling commodity returns for our clients, and a wet and cold spring
delivering frosts which affected a number of crops. Two cyclones through late summer
also resulted in significant crop and rural infrastructure damage in the North Island.
In the context of these market conditions, we are heartened by the performance of the
business. We are proud of the way our team responded to the demands experienced in
their regions and the extraordinary efforts of many in the way they supported each other,
our clients, and their communities in need.
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Slide 12 – Group Operating EBITDA
Group Operating EBITDA of $61.2 million is a positive result against the challenging
backdrop.
Rural Supplies and Fruitfed Supplies experienced standout performances with strong
performances in Livestock, Wool, and Water. Our Real Estate business operated in
difficult market conditions.
Slide 13 – Group Revenue
Revenue of $975.7 million was higher compared to the prior year and was up $23 million
or 2 per cent from FY22.
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Slide 14 – Group Net Profit After Tax
NPAT in this financial year was $17.5 million which was down $6.8 million or 28 per cent
on last year. Margins were broadly in line with the prior year.
Slide 15 – Group Strategic Results & Measures
The implementation of our PGW Group Strategy remains a key focus with execution of
initiatives linked to our eight strategic priorities. Our strategy centres around our ‘why’.
Being proud of our respected history in the New Zealand agri-sector while concentrated
on the future and growth opportunities for the PGW Group.
Ultimately our strategy is to provide superior service and offerings to our clients and
consistent growth to our shareholders. This will be achieved by working alongside our
clients and advancing the technical expertise we provide to help grow their businesses.
The depth of the relationships we have with our clients positions us well to meaningfully
contribute to their farming and growing operations. These relationships based on trust
and experience become even more important in challenging market conditions.
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Over the course of the last year, we undertook an assessment of each business unit’s
strategic initiatives and performance indicators and tracked these through at a PGW
Group level. This exercise served to gauge the pace of progress and the desired
outcomes of our strategic objectives.
For several years we have tracked and reported against several published Results and
Measures as part of our PGW Group Strategy. The measures track our performance in
relation to financial performance, safety performance, and customer experience. These
measures cover three important areas where we want to grow and improve. This year’s
results have been impacted by more challenging operating conditions and we comment
on each in turn:
Financial Performance Measures: Our internal financial performance measures include
two key indicators. Firstly, we target growth through the cycles in excess of Consumer
Price Index, known as CPI. This is measured by comparing our normalised Earnings
Before Interest and Tax, or EBIT, growth against the CPI. During FY23 we recorded a
normalised EBIT growth of -21.3 per cent. We normalise EBIT by excluding non-operating
gains or losses and impairment and fair value gains or losses.
A second financial measure that we target is to achieve a Total Shareholder Return,
referred to as TSR, exceeding 10 per cent per annum. TSR is calculated annually based
on the movement in our share price plus the dividends paid. The TSR for FY23 was flat
at zero per cent, below our target. The business maintained a steady dividend at 22 cents
per share for FY23.
Health & Safety Measure: The health, safety, and wellbeing of our people is of critical
importance to PGW. To track our safety performance, we measure our Total Recordable
Injury Frequency Rate, known as TRIFR, performance so we can demonstrate
continuous improvement in our safety outcomes. PGW’s TRIFR for FY23 was 26.47 and
the Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate for FY23 was 6.62.
These calculations are based on contracted hours worked by permanent and temporary
employees, using a base of 1 million hours. This provides us with an opportunity to
address and improve this figure in future years, noting the increase on our FY20 baseline
is partially explained by an increased focus in FY23 on identification and reporting of
injuries.
Customer Experience Measure: A key feature of PGW’s success as a business is the
trust our clients place in our company, people, and brand. Given customer experience is
so important to our continued success as a business, a key objective in our strategy is to
target incremental improvement in our PGW Group Net Promoter Scores. These scores
are a commonly used measurement of customer satisfaction and loyalty which is based
on a customer’s likelihood to recommend a service or business.
In FY23 our PGW Group NPS was stable, and in line with FY22. We consider this is a
reasonable and understandable result given the challenges weighing heavily on farmer
confidence and sentiment - such as a high inflation, increased interest rates, softening
returns, and in some regions the impact of severe weather events.
Our Chief Executive Officer Stephen Guerin will now provide an operational overview.
Slide 16 – Chief Executive Officer’s Review
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PGW recorded operating cash flows during the year of $25.5 million. This was up $1.8
million on the prior year noting it included $8.2 million of higher income tax payments
related to the exceptional FY22 result.
PGW invested in working capital during the year, including implementation of our strategy
to grow GO-STOCK. This resulted in a balance of $74.0 million at 30 June 2023, an
increase of $7.9 million from 30 June 2022. Inventories were $5.5 million higher than the
prior financial year end due to more inventory being held owing to higher sales volumes
in the Retail and Water business and also at higher values due to continued supply chain
disruptions.
Capital expenditure of $17.1 million was $8.4 million higher than the prior year. This
increase was driven by investment in our IT Systems Business Improvement Programme.
This includes both operating expenditure and capital expenditure components and is due
to go-live in 2024.
Our net interest-bearing debt was $65.3 million as at 30 June 2023, an increase of $32.5
million from the prior comparative period.
The Business Improvement Programme to simplify our IT systems made good progress
with its first phase successfully implemented in July 2023. The main component of the
programme is expected to be completed in FY24. The benefits expected from the
consolidation of systems and renewal of processes include greater efficiency, flexibility,
better utilisation of our data, and improved security.
Since the launch of our refreshed Max Rewards loyalty programme in November 2022,
membership growth has been steady. As well as a brand-new look, our clients have an
enhanced shopping experience, membership tiers, and access to wider member benefits
as part of the programme. Max Rewards differentiates our client offering in the
competitive agribusiness servicing market.
During the financial year PGW’s property maintenance requirements were transitioned to
a specialist third party facilities manager. Using a specialist provider to engage
contractors provides us with efficiencies and enhances our capacity to deliver
professional repairs and maintenance work with a greater degree of compliance
assurance.
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At 30 June 2023 PGW had 1,572 permanent and temporary (fixed term) employees, and
323 casual and commission agents, totalling 1,895 people.
Our people are the heart of our business, and our efforts continue to ensure PGW is not
only a great place to work, but to develop great people who relate to our clients and the
local communities where we operate.
Investing in our people is a strategic imperative for PGW as we support and develop our
people to be able to deliver on our strategy. Three key pillars of Leadership & Expertise,
Safe & Certain, and Recognition provide the anchors of our People & Safety strategy.
We have revitalised our Learning & Development and technical training programmes and
have made ongoing improvements to our safety resources and systems. In the past year
we concentrated on leadership development, our safety and wellbeing culture, sales
training, team culture, and a wide range of eLearning courses.
We have also delivered on providing opportunities for those showing strength in
leadership early in their careers and those who have displayed the skills and aptitude to
enhance their careers by working as part of cross-functional teams on our Business
Improvement Programme.
PGW continues to take a disciplined approach to controlling our critical risks. Our revised
Health, Safety, & Wellbeing roadmap has made significant progress this past year by
engaging and learning from those who are closest to our critical risks.
It is also encouraging to see an increase in our people prioritising safety. This has been
demonstrated through monthly nominations of colleagues for our bimonthly Executive
Safety Leadership Award.
Guided by the Environment and Sustainability pillar within the PGW Group Strategy,
PGW was pleased to release its Sustainability Strategy to 2030. This strategy establishes
PGW’s positioning on a range of key Environmental, Social, and Governance issues. We
have targets around greenhouse gas emissions reductions, fleet management, energy
efficiency, and other social and governance metrics.
PGW has committed to reduce its operational (scope 1 & 2) greenhouse gas emissions
by 30 per cent by FY30 from its FY21 baseline. As part of this commitment, PGW has
undertaken a comprehensive process to calculate its current and historic emissions
profile, including seeking external assurance. PGW has identified its largest sources of
emissions and put in place a series of strategic actions to address these. PGW has also
committed to transparency through public reporting and has aligned our reporting to the
Global Reporting Initiative Standards. These Standards assist organisations to
understand and communicate their impacts on a range of issues such as climate change,
human rights, and corruption.
The damage caused to our clients from Cyclone Gabrielle and Northland flooding was
substantial, with the effects and recovery going to be felt for a number of years to come.
Whilst sobering seeing the devastation the cyclone caused it was heartening to see that
the fabric of our rural communities is strong and resilient.
Our local teams did a fantastic job supporting our clients and growers, often while having
to deal with their own personal impacts. We had a lot of staff from around the country
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travel to the affected areas to help the local teams and provide additional support where
needed. Our people have been outstanding in how they responded to the challenges this
event brought and continue to demonstrate how PGW plays an important role in our
communities, as well as looking out for each other.
We worked in conjunction with Ag Proud and Federated Farmers to capture donations
for distribution to the Rural Support Trusts in the impacted areas. Our retail stores and
livestock saleyards collected approximately $32,000 which was distributed to the Rural
Support Trust and Federated Farmers who were on the ground doing great work to
support those in need. Internally, PGW raised over $115,000 from employees and other
donations.
We will now discuss our operational highlights.
Slide 17 – 2023 Group Operational Highlights
Some of the operational highlights achieved over the year include the following:
• Fruitfed Supplies Crop Monitoring business celebrated its 25
th
anniversary.
• Since the launch of our refreshed Max Rewards loyalty programme in November 2022,
we have seen steady membership growth.
• Agritrade celebrated its 10
th
anniversary.
• Our Water technicians completed certified training with Valley Irrigation.
• bidr sold its first dairy herd forward contract online.
• PGW’s young talented livestock auctioneers achieved a trifecta by winning first,
second, and third in the 11th annual Heartland Bank Young Auctioneers Competition
at Canterbury Park.
• We achieved a Scope 1 & 2 emissions reduction of 10 per cent from our FY21 base
year.
Slides 18 – Business Unit Financial Results
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Turning now to the performance of our two operating groups, Retail & Water and Agency.
Slides 19 to 20 – Retail & Water
The Retail & Water business incorporates Rural Supplies, Fruitfed Supplies, Water, and
Agritrade. Retail & Water’s Operating EBITDA was an impressive $54.1 million and up
$1.6 million on the prior year. Revenue of $785.3 million, was up $24.0 million.
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The financial year marked another record for our Retail & Water businesses. Increased
sales were recorded in the animal health, fencing, general merchandise, and horticultural
merchandise categories. We transacted increased business volumes with the same level
of staff which is something we are very proud of and a testament to the commitment of
our team members.
Our clients appreciate the superior technical ability of our people who are backed by our
dedicated Research and Development team and the technological platforms they utilise.
We will continue to build on this point of difference to ensure we maintain and grow our
market share.
International travel recommenced after COVID-19 travel restrictions with visits to our
suppliers in America, Europe, Australia, and Singapore. These trips are crucial to the
business to ensure that we are at the forefront of new research and products coming to
the market. These visits also foster and reforge relationships with our suppliers and
overseas partners and create favourable trading partnerships.
During the financial year we invested in the personal development of our teams with
targeted training on sales growth, performance, financial planning, and sales
conversations.
Technical investments included a fridge sensor trial with Spark to help safeguard
products in our care such as animal health vaccines, horticultural pheromones, and deer
velvet. These products must be kept at controlled temperatures to comply with our
assurance obligations and digitalising the process reduces wastage and improves
reliability. The success of the trial has led to a company-wide rollout being approved.
Global supply chain disruption following the pandemic caused us to carry higher levels of
inventory to ensure we could provide our clients with the right products at the right time.
Elevated inventory levels caused some challenges with storage and working capital
management. As international shipping delays are easing there is more certainty
regarding deliveries, and we have adjusted inventory levels given that we do not need to
carry the same quantities of buffer stock.
As part of our continual store improvement programme, our Richmond store relocated to
a new purpose-built premise. This new store provides an enhanced client experience and
a better working environment with improved safety. Our Retail & Water property
programme includes a move to new stores for our Timaru Rural Supplies and Water
Teams, and refurbishments for our Waimate and Geraldine stores. Enhancing our retail
footprint allows us to accommodate growth, expand existing product ranges, stock new
products, and meet the future needs of our clients. This continual investment is a
demonstration of our commitment and support to our local communities.
The online sales channel has continued its growth with pleasing performance in the
apparel and general merchandise categories. Improvements in user experience and
promotional activity were contributing factors to an uplift in sales for the third consecutive
year. We continue to see positive flow-on impacts in-store through cash sales from raising
awareness of PGW’s product range.
Rural Supplies recorded its best trading results to date, exceeding last year’s record
performance, with strong sales across a range of categories. We have continued to grow
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market share across a range of categories and delivered strong results in a shrinking
market. To achieve growth on last year is an exceptional outcome given the climatic
challenges faced and demonstrates the strength of our Rural Supplies business.
Our people are passionate and motivated to go the extra mile for our hardworking clients.
We are winning new business and seeking opportunities with key accounts in animal
health, forestry, and the everchanging landscape of our traditional business.
Our Marketing Team launched a brand awareness and growth campaign titled, ‘Working
alongside you, every season of the year’. The campaign focuses on our people and their
passion to help grow clients’ businesses, and our support of our local communities. This
spring our campaign promotes our technical offering and the value our Technical Field
Representatives offer.
Last year the wet spring conditions contributed to additional Ag chem sales in our Fruitfed
Supplies winery and horticultural business. Our market share also increased in the
vegetable sector which is an important area where we have targeted growth.
The damage caused by spring frosts and floods across parts of the North Island and the
impacts from Cyclone Gabrielle in the Tairāwhiti and Hawke’s Bay regions will impact the
Fruitfed Supplies business over the next few seasons. However, the long-term outlook
for horticulture remains positive. Our Fruitfed Supplies strategic plan focuses on adapting
to changes in the industry, capitalising on category growth, and how we can proactively
and strategically adapt to land use change. We are proud of our reputation as leaders,
with industry organisations approaching us to assist them in finding solutions.
Fruitfed Supplies extended its messaging during its brand campaign which focused on
its innovative capabilities and R&D product trials that support the horticultural sector. This
was alongside showcasing the crop monitoring and expert teams who work closely with
growers to transfer technical knowledge into the field. The campaign provided the
opportunity to launch a dedicated Fruitfed Supplies Facebook page, and other channels
including digital airport billboards in the main horticultural regions to increase brand
awareness.
Our Blenheim branch received its second BRCGS Global Food Safety Standard audit
clearance after becoming accredited in 2021. We received an AA rating which is the
highest rating possible. Having such a globally recognised Food Safety Certification
verifying our quality and product safety systems has important advantages for our clients.
Fruitfed Supplies won the Indevin/Villa Maria Legends Supplier Award at their annual
prizegiving.
Our Crop Monitoring business celebrated its 25
th
anniversary. Crop Monitoring Scouts
provide a valuable service to our clients in the field monitoring for pests, diseases, and
beneficial insects across a range of crops.
The Water business’ strategic focus is to add value to our clients’ businesses by growing
service delivery and the best technical advice. We are the market leader with the most
technically skilled workforce as verified by Valley and the only current Valley Certified
Field Technicians and Certified Valley Designers in the country.
Supply chain issues have eased, and we have delivered a number of pivots on farm.
Service revenue has remained consistent. Our Sales and Design crew are actively
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targeting irrigator upgrade options and enquiries for infill irrigation are increasing,
specifically where clients see the benefit of fixed grid solutions.
Agritrade, our wholesale business division, celebrated its 10
th
anniversary in September
2022 and showed good growth over this period. This past financial year has seen another
lift in sales revenue with growth across horticultural inputs and animal health products.
Our range continues to expand as suppliers look to us to supply product given our
logistics capability and growing reach to merchants and vets across the country.
2023 provided an opportunity to review and improve the Agritrade business structure to
deliver further independence and provide greater focus as we continually look to
profitably grow our wholesale business and increase efficiencies.
In addressing sustainability through our logistics supply chain, we are working with our
suppliers to assist in reducing their freight carbon emissions. We have also reduced our
reliance on LPG through the rollout of electric forklifts and have been working with
Agrecovery on customer-focused plastic recycling solutions.
Slides 21 to 22 – Agency
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Our Agency group incorporates the Livestock, Wool and Real Estate businesses.
Operating EBITDA was $16.1 million and was down $5.8 million on the prior year’s strong
result. Revenue was $188.8 million, which was broadly in line with the prior year’s result.
Our Livestock business achieved a solid performance in a difficult market. Whilst there
were challenges through softer sheep pricing, significant wet weather events in the North
Island, and declining tallies in some stock lines, there were also positive outcomes for the
year. The wet conditions contributed to greater pasture growth than normal which created
trading opportunities during the summer and autumn periods.
Revenues received for cattle were robust, with higher prices received compared to the
prior year. This was driven by healthy pricing achieved throughout the year which was
assisted by abundant feed and increases in export volumes. Sheep pricing was below
expectations throughout much of the year as demand was slow to recover in key export
markets.
Declines in some tallies were experienced due to land use change, especially with
conversion of sheep and beef properties to carbon forestry. This is anticipated to slow
due to new regulation covering farm-to-forestry conversions requiring resource consents.
GO-STOCK, our grazing programme which frees up capital for farmers to invest in other
areas of their businesses, achieved another record year with the highest balances
recorded in terms of values and tallies. During FY23, two significant milestones were
reached with over 350,000 cattle and 2.3 million lambs purchased through GO-STOCK
since its launch in 2016.
bidr® is New Zealand’s virtual saleyard, offering real-time live auctions. During the period
bidr’s database of buyers grew to over 9,500 users. This growth is driven by continued
demand for online bidding and livestreaming of cattle sales at saleyards and on-farm
auctions. bidr hosted over 900 auctions during FY23, including regular weekly sales at
10 saleyards.
bidr’s 100% online offering continues to see an uptake in niche sheep and beef genetics
and elite dairy sales. FY23 saw the fruition of developments implemented the prior year,
particularly with new auction capabilities enabling online buyers to ‘pick’ individual
animals for purchase from a pen containing multiple animals. This has proved popular
with the dairy and ram markets.
The Deer and Velvet business delivered a strong performance, recording its best trading
results. This was achieved through increases in volumes traded with South Korean health
food customers. China’s extended shutdown caused slower sales which reduced prices
on the prior year. With all velvet stock sold and exported, it remains a profitable income
stream for deer clients and continues to grow in both production and quality.
The Genetics business achieved some outstanding results with its bull sales. The team
is investigating the value add of a ‘beef over dairy’ strategy which will benefit dairy farmers
seeking genetics that shorten gestation, maximise ease of birth, and increase profitability
of cattle.
Success in saleyards from a through-put perspective, especially in the North Island,
flowed through to on-farm sales. During the period National Saleyards Limited was
successfully established. This new entity operates several jointly owned saleyards across
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the North Island. Technological innovations included the enhancement of agOnline,
which is the most viewed rural website in the country. The online Blue Notebook was
upgraded and creates more options for our agents to transact and source information
digitally.
Overall, the wool business had a solid year with total bales procured into stores in line
with the prior year. Wool growers continue to be negatively impacted by strong wool
prices. PGW Wool had another steady fine wool season, growing market share supported
by high value long-term merino contracts with growers.
While the challenges of navigating international supply chains have eased, the impacts
of Cyclone Gabrielle continue to pose a challenge for the New Zealand wool supply chain.
WoolWorks New Zealand Limited's Awatoto wool scour was impacted by flooding and
remediation work is expected to complete by the end of the year.
As wool's natural and sustainable fibre story grows stronger, consumers are beginning to
appreciate the environmental benefits of the product. PGW is an active proponent of the
advantages of wool and continues to invest in the business.
PGW extended its wool contract business by linking wool growers with manufacturers
both domestically and internationally. We also received increased enquiries from
domestic and international retail brands. We expect that rising demand for organic wool
will see growers supported by price increases in time. In the latter part of the financial
year, we saw a significant number of overseas clients visiting our shores to get on farm
and meet our wool growers. A key focus of clients is to better understand the supply chain
for wool production and farming practices.
Our Wool Integrity Programme provides assurances that our wool has been ethically
grown. During the year we released our Wool Integrity marketing video ‘From New
Zealand woolsheds to the world’. The story follows the wool journey, beginning on-farm
and finishing up on the other side of the world where it has been manufactured into high-
quality products. The campaign highlights how PGW Wool and our export subsidiary
Bloch & Behrens supports growers to produce an ethical fibre that is grown to world
leading farm standards, while also connecting them to the global market.
PGW Wool extended its support to the Campaign for Wool’s ‘Wool in Schools’ initiative
where mobile ‘wool sheds’ travel across New Zealand, visiting primary and intermediate
schools to educate children about the wonders of wool.
The real estate market has experienced one of the toughest years in some time with
higher interest rates, stricter regulatory requirements, softening commodity prices, and
uncertainty regarding the outcome of the general election all contributing to negative
sentiment.
This was reflected in operating results for PGW’s Real Estate with the decline in market
activity leading to significantly fewer sales being made than in the prior financial year. On
the positive side, we maintained and increased market share in some regions.
Whilst it was pleasing to see PGW Real Estate involved in some large rural properties
being transacted, this did not offset the low sale volumes experienced throughout the
year, particularly in the lifestyle property market.
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We launched the refreshed PGW Real Estate website which has a contemporary design
that provides easy accessibility and enhances user navigation.
PGW Real Estate expanded its profile in Wairarapa and Central Hawke’s Bay through
the acquisition of a real estate business with several branches which contributed to
increasing our overall market share.
Slides 23 to 24 – First Quarter FY2024
We are into the busy spring period, and it is warming up with increased activity on-farm
and orchard with growth rates picking up across the country. The first quarter got off to a
relatively subdued start with cooler conditions initially and farm and orchard spending
indicators back on last year. Farmer and grower sentiment dipped lower and investment
intentions have fallen to their weakest levels since the 1980's, excluding the first COVID-
19 lockdown. The good news for us is that our market share is steady and in some areas
we are continuing to make gains.
Whilst we cannot influence our customers spend appetites, we can keep a strong focus
on areas of our business that we can control, for example inventory, cash flow and
operating expenses. These are areas that we continue to proactively manage as
appropriate for the operating environment we are in. Although we have seen spending
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patterns back off in discretionary inputs, much of the business we do involves necessary
seasonal spend for our customers that is essential for their growing operations.
Our Deputy Chair, Sarah Brown will now discuss the outlook.
Slides 25 to 26 – Outlook
There is a significant degree of volatility in the global economy and international markets
currently. New Zealand, like our key trading partner nations, is committed to bringing
inflation under control and we have seen interest rates increase to help achieve that. The
effect of this monetary policy is being felt with inflation levels beginning to trend lower but
with elevated interest rates raising borrowing costs.
While PGW is well positioned operationally, we see continuing volatility and softening
commodity prices for our clients and challenging macro market conditions out over the
short to medium term.
As Stephen mentioned, increased concerns over the outlook for agricultural commodity
prices in the year ahead has pushed New Zealand farmer sentiment to record lows
according to the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence survey. We have seen the movement
in dairy forecasts in recent months along with soft demand for sheep meat. Demand in
key markets has declined and China’s economic recovery remains subdued.
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While some of the sector is recovering from last summer’s cyclones there is also concern
about the potential for drought conditions in the coming months due to El Niño whether
patterns. These factors combine to hamper confidence and reinforce cautiousness as
farmers and growers anticipate impacts on the profitability of their business operations.
While the sector faces a challenging year, this is nevertheless balanced by strong longer-
term fundamentals, and we expect an improvement as the economies in our key markets
recover. The global population and demand for protein is expected to continue to grow
and the fundamentals for the sector remain sound.
The longer-term outlook is positive, with the Ministry for Primary Industries projecting
steady growth for New Zealand’s primary exports and revenue projected to reach $62
billion by 2027. As a market leader in the agricultural sector, PGW is in a strong position
to assist our clients grow their businesses as they respond to export demand.
On balance, we remain cautious about the financial year ahead given the mixed signals
in the macroeconomic environment. As Stephen noted, trading for the first quarter was
back on last year influenced by the factors I have mentioned and a subdued real estate
market.
Although it remains early in the financial year, we are forecasting an Operating EBITDA
result for the year to 30 June 2024 of around $52 million. This is back from last year’s
strong Operating EBITDA result of $61.2 million and is based upon our current
assessment of a more cautious operating environment. It remains early in the year
however and we would hope to be in a better position to assess again after the spring
trading period.
In the meantime, the business remains focused on continuing to deliver on our strategy
and creating value as we enter our key trading period.
Slides 27 to 28 – Questions and discussion
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22
Slide 29 – Business of the Meeting – Resolution
Slides 30 to 31 – Ordinary Resolution: Auditor’s Remuneration
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Slide 32 – Move Resolution
Slide 33 – General Business
Closing
Slide 34 – Closing and Thank You
---
25 OCTOBER 2023
Annual Shareholders’ Meeting Results
At PGG Wrightson Limited’s
1
hybrid meeting held today, shareholders were asked to vote on one
resolution, which was supported by the Board.
As required by NZX Listing Rule 6.1, voting was conducted by a poll.
The resolution passed with a majority and details of the total number of votes cast were as follows:
Resolution For Against Abstained
1. To note the reappointment of Ernst & Young
as the Company’s auditors and authorise the
Directors to fix the auditor’s remuneration.
46,079,865
(99.68%)
148,809
(0.32%)
40,072
Authority for this announcement
Name of person authorised to make this
announcement
Julian Daly
General Manager Corporate Affairs /
Company Secretary
Contact person for this announcement Julian Daly
Contact phone number +64 27 553 3373
Contact email address jdaly@pggwrightson.co.nz
Date of release through MAP 25 October 2023
For media enquiries contact:
Registered Office:
Julian Daly
General Manager Corporate Affairs / Company
Secretary
PGG Wrightson Limited
Mobile: +64 27 553 3373
Email: companysecretary@pggwrightson.co.nz
PGG Wrightson Limited
1 Robin Mann Place, Christchurch Airport
Christchurch 8053, New Zealand
Phone: 0800 10 22 76 / +64 3 477 4520
Website: pggwrightson.co.nz
1
All references to PGG Wrightson Limited refer to the company, its subsidiaries and interests in associates and jointly
controlled entities.
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