One of the nation's biggest rural retailers, Hawke's Bay co-operative Farmlands, is to establish a presence in Northland.
Farmlands chief executive John Newland today said Farmlands had contracted to purchase Whangarei family farm supply business Betta Farm Supplies.
"Purchasing an existing business in a new catchment area gives Farmlands significant competitive advantage,"
Mr Newland said in a statement.
"It is a well established, profitable business with a solid reputation and strong customer base that's been operating in Whangarei for 15 years.
"Having now secured an already successful business we expect to build on that success, we see huge potential and this is very exciting."
Mr Newland said the purchase of the business gave Farmlands critical market share and spread and placed it "in an ideal strategic position to capture long-term opportunities closer to Auckland".
Farmlands has appointed Brad Saxton as the new manager of the Whangarei store. He will be transferring from Farmlands Tokoroa where he opened a new branch two years ago.
The Farmlands Trading Society was formed by six Hawke's Bay farmers in 1962 and is now run by a board of directors that draws its membership from all areas where the co-operative operates.
- NZPA
