Meri Kirihimete

Merry Christmas everyone. This is our last business update for 2023 and I thank you for your contribution during the year.

We achieved some great things this year, and I’d like to take the opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights and special mentions:

• Despite the challenging business environment, the business has continued to perform strongly and will deliver a satisfactory financial result for the 2023 year.
• Once again, our ongoing focus on optimising product values and saving additional products, combined with timely supply chain and logistics execution, delivered a strong revenue performance for the business.
• Our contribution to the shareholder was recognised again when we received a second Itoham Yonekyu Holdings President’s award.  
• ANZCO Foods took home six gold and two silver medals at the World Steak Challenge in October, while a steak from shareholder Itoham Yonekyu’s Japanese beef brand ITO Wagyu won the Best Steak in Asia.
• As part of New Zealand’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication programme, Five Star Beef was successfully depopulated before Christmas last year and was then handed over to MPI for cleaning and disinfecting. The repopulation of the feedlot went to plan and we also implemented strict biosecurity controls which are in place to keep M. bovis out of the feedlot in future.
• The successful rollout of CloudSuite continued across the business with five sites going live in 2023; Manawatu in February, Waitara in May, Marlborough in July, Green Island in October, and Rangitikei in November; and the final three sites, Canterbury, Ashcold, and Rakaia, set to go live in the first half of 2024.
• The Angel Bay team was the winner of the Foodstuffs North Island Grocery Partnership Award, and the Angel Bay Gourmet Veggie Burger Patties won the FMCG Business Product of the Year award.
• The ANZCO Prepared Foods team at ANZCO Foods Waitara received the McDonald’s Australasian award for Food Quality, Safety and Hygiene, measured against specific KPIs in multiple categories such as sustainability, assured supply, and innovation.
• All of the offshore business performed strongly in 2023, and supported the wider business to drive increased revenue performance and customer satisfaction. In addition the configuration of our offshore businesses changed, with ANZCO China coming on board and the ANZCO Taiwan office closing. Our in-market representation and the efforts of our ANZCO teams outside New Zealand is an important aspect of the ANZCO Foods business.
• Building on its acquisition of the Moregate business in 2022, ANZCO brought together the leadership structure of Moregate Biotech and Bovogen Biologicals under the ANZCO BioScience umbrella.
• We welcomed new offshore employees to the ANZCO Foods business from the Pako Training School in Vietnam. This, alongside other recruitment initiatives has meant that we have been better-positioned to fully staff our business operations than we have in previous years.
• ANZCO Foods has continued to make significant progress on our Climate Change and Sustainability strategy, with a maturity assessment showing improvements in all areas measured. We also reviewed and updated our three-year strategy.
• The second Health and Safety conference for representatives from across the business was held in September, reinforcing our continued dedication and focus in this area.
• We developed and launched a new app for our farmers to request calf pick-ups.
• A successful Cybersmart Week campaign was run to provide tips and tools to keep everyone safe online.
• ANZCO Livestock ran NZFAP Plus events around the country to support farmers on their sustainability journey.
• We launched ANZCO Crew, our new app for ANZCO Foods employees, that gives us exclusive discounts and offers and provides a hub for ANZCO news and information.
• The remaining funds of the ANZCO Earthquake Trust were donated to support Maia Health Foundation as they develop a much-needed youth mental Health outpatients’ facility in Canterbury.
• The company’s third annual survey confirmed most people were very satisfied with ANZCO Foods as an employer and provided insight into areas to work on, which is ongoing. As part of the annual survey, we asked employees if ANZCO Foods was committed to Health and Safety and had controls in place to manage risks appropriately – it was great to see that overall, 88% of respondents agreed (58%) or strongly agreed (30%).
• We awarded five more $5,000 scholarships to whānau of our waged employees for tertiary education or apprenticeships, as well as three one-off $3,000 scholarships.
• Just recently we donated 13 tonnes of mince to foodbanks across the country as part of the Meat the Need event – this equates to 104,000 mince meals. This is one of many donations and sponsorships that ANZCO has been involved in during 2023, as we provide support and assistance where it’s needed to help those in our communities.  

These activities were complemented by our support services. All parts of our business are important and it’s together that we have been able to achieve so much. Thanks again for your contribution. I hope you can take the time to relax during the break and come back refreshed for 2024 and all that it holds.

 

Peter Conley

Chief Executive Officer