Comvita cuts 67 jobs, closes UK and EU offices, but could rebound in 2026

Comvita chief executive Brett Hewlett says honey production has seen a "seismic change" over the years. Photo / 123rf

By Monique Steele of RNZ

Honey producer Comvita’s bitter financial losses have been sweetened by maintaining market share across a number of Asian markets, in the face of “seismic” changes to the global honey industry.

The NZX-listed company is reporting a net loss after tax of $6.5 million for the six months to the end of December, which included one-off restructure costs.

In a presentation to investors on Tuesday, the company spoke of a “radically simplified organisation”, with the restructure reducing overall headcount by 67, scaling back senior leaders by four and cutting two board directors.

It also closed its United Kingdom and European Union subsidiaries in place of a distributor model.

The restructure followed reports of accounting regularities in December, with the company recently admitting to overstating its after-tax profits by $4m for the 2023 and 2024 financial years.

Chief executive Brett Hewlett labelled the situation as a “smelly fish”, which prompted an independent accounting review.

“We deeply regret having to report this as part of our restructure and review process,” he said.

“A number of sales and accounts receivable balances were seen to be incorrect and needed to be adjusted.

“I can reassure... we have taken measures to correct, tighten controls, restructure the organisation, we’ve changed reporting lines, we’ve refreshed and re-vamped our procedures and policies to make sure they’re fully compliant of what you would expect from Comvita.”

Hewlett said the company was still in discussion with its banking syndicate as its current financial performance didn’t enable the business to achieve confidence from the syndicate.

However there was cause for optimism into 2026 at least, Hewlett said, namely its strong position as a premium honey brand leader in Singapore, China, Hong Kong and South Korea.

He said there was a depressed consumer sentiment towards spending in China at present, where other honey producers were also sending their honey cheap and discounted, affecting demand even further.

“We are seeing frugality of willingness to spend by Chinese consumers taking place and that seems to continue, but it seems to have also plateaued and levelled out.

“The economic outlook for China does remain soft, but we still remain very positive on the long-term prospects.”

Hewlett said the company also regained lost ground with its North American market with a major customer win confirmed in January.

Losing a major North American customer led to the company reporting a full-year loss in August of $77.4m, also attributable to the abrupt drop-off in demand from China.

Hewlett said honey production has seen a “seismic change” over the years, due to the glut of honey in global markets which was exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Rapidly growing honey production faced “an absolute collapse” in 2020 when production volumes fell 24% to 2023.

“This surplus of production that was recognised hasn’t been absorbed by the steady growth and demand in market and has created a surplus or a glut that’s been referred to in the industry.”

But he said Comvita continued to reduce its inventory and planned a rebound in 2026 thanks to its premium position and brand.

- RNZ