The chairman and finance director of Greenvale parent company Produce Investments have handed in their resignations.
Chairman Barrie Clapham will step down following the company’s AGM on 28 October, while finance director Brian Macdonald leaves on 31 December and will be retained on a part-time basis.Clapham will be succeeded by Neil Davidson, while Jonathan Lamont takes over from Macdonald.
The announcement came as Produce Investments revealed a decrease in pre-tax profit following a product recall and closure of its Kent packing facility.
Clapham has been chairman of Produce Investments since its inception in 2006, and presided over its entry to the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange, as well as the acquisitions of Swancote Foods, Rowe Farming and Jersery Royal Company.
His successor Davidson has been a non-executive director since June 2015 and has over 30 years’ experience in the agri-food sector, having previously been chairman of Arla Foods and Cherry Valley Farms. He is also a non-executive director of Morrisons.
Lamont joined Produce Investments as group financial controller at the start of July, but will now take on the role of financial director. He has held a number of senior finance roles in FMCG in the UK and abroad, and is also expected to join the board in January 2017.
Exceptionals hit profitability
In a busy day for the potato specialist, turnover for the 52 weeks to 25 June 2016 was revealed to be £185.1 million, up slightly from £178.4m the previous year. Pre-tax profit, however, halved from £7.3m in 2015 to £3.5m.
The reduction in profit could partially be explained by a £571,000 exceptional charge related to a case of metal contamination at Swancote Foods, at which a new blancher has been installed and processes changed to ensure the situation does not reoccur.
A loss of business also resulted in the closure of the company’s Kent potato packing site, with volumes transferred to Cambridgeshire and Scotland. The closure resulted in a non-cash impairment charge of £2.6m related to property and equipment, as well as nearly £1m related to redundancy costs and other exceptionals.
Overall, chief executive Angus Armstrong described the 2015 season as an “average-yielding crop”, with value and volume potato sales stable. Crop prices were also relatively stable, despite an increase in the price of free-buy crop towards the end of the year as demand outstripped supply.
Elsewhere Armstrong reported a major investment in IT and infrastructure, a successful year for the Rowe Farming daffodil business, and good prospects for the Jersey Royal Company.
“We strongly believe that following the acquisitions of Rowe Farming and the Jersey Royal Company, coupled with the rationalisation of our fresh packing sites, we are in a much stronger position to deal with external pressures that we might encounter,” he said. “The board and the senior management team remain confident that the group is well placed to grow organically and to take advantage of any acquisition opportunities that might arise in the future.”
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