PGG Wrightson held its annual meeting this week in which its chair and deputy chair were voted off the board.
PGG Wrightson’s annual meeting this week has left more than a few people scratching their heads over why chair Garry Moore and deputy chair Sarah Brown were despatched in such short order.
The successful rural services firm’s two largest shareholders – Singapore’s Agria (44%) and Australia’s Elders (12.3%) – voted against Moore’s and Brown’s re-elections without outlining reasons for doing so.
Agria’s founder – the controversial Alan Lai – stepped down from the PGG Wrightson (PGW) board in 2018.
At this week’s meeting, remaining PGW directors U Kean Seng, Charlotte Severne and Wilson Liu resolved to reappoint former director John Nichol to the board.
In a statement issued yesterday, PGW said the board had resolved to make Nichol independent chair.
“John brings extensive experience in the agriculture sector and a deep understanding of PGW, having previously served as a director and Audit Committee member from October 2013 to April 2019,” it said.
Following the annual meeting the board formally wrote to Agria and Elders seeking clarification on the rationale and strategic intent behind the directorship changes effected at the meeting.
In response, Lai, on behalf of Agria, said: “We view the recent developments as an opportunity to refresh the board, with a focus on driving improvement and enhancing shareholder value.
“Agria remains committed to its long-term investment in PGW and will continue to support the company, its board, and management in our efforts to increase the value of our investment,” he said.
Nichol added the board remained committed to maintaining transparency and strong governance practices.
“We will continue to engage constructively with all shareholders and stakeholders to ensure confidence in the company’s governance and strategic direction.”
PGW had been riding the crest of a wave thanks to a buoyant agricultural sector.
On the eve of the meeting, the company issued an upbeat earnings forecast for 2026.
While Agria has a bit of history when it comes to PGW’s governance, it’s unclear as to why Elders decided to join the fray.
Liu – one of the independent directors proposed by Agria in the aborted board proposals of early 2024 – was appointed to the board in July this year.
The New Zealand Shareholders Association recently named PGW its board of the year at its annual Beacon Awards.
“Ultimately, I think it’s really hard for us to speculate in terms of saying what motivations are there,” association chief executive Oliver Mander told the Herald.
“We’d have to talk to Elders to work out exactly what the thinking is and what the future plan is.
“It’s hard to say it’s not connected to what went on in early 2024, late 2023, where Agria made a bid to remove the independent directors at that time.
“They have done this in a much quieter, yet more effective way.
“It is unfortunate for minority shareholders and probably for the company itself.”
Mander noted PGW had the benefit of some favourable tailwinds.
“It’s doing well, and yet it’s got form in snatching defeat from the jaws of victory when it comes to governance of its major shareholders.”
Midway through a round of golf, Moore told the Herald the move was completely out of the blue.
“All I can say is that it was a massive surprise – totally unexpected,” he said.
“In the week prior, I was told by the major shareholder that everything was hunky dory and that they were very pleased with where we were at and to not expect any surprises, so make of that what you will.”
Even more bewildering was the support given by Elders to the board room spill.
“I tried obviously to contact Elders, but they’re not picking up.
“They [Elders] would appear to be complicit in the bid to get rid of the chair and the deputy chair. The rationale? I could only speculate.
“As regards the major shareholder [Agria], I think there’s a bit of revenge in there.”
Moore said the company is in great heart.
“The executive is outstanding.
“With the customer base, we’ve got long-standing, loyal customers and a great team.
“Everything was coming together, hence the announcement the night before about what people could expect and that it was going to be a good year.
“This is very odd behaviour and I’m scratching my head.”
The Herald sought a response from Elders as to why it voted the way it did but there was no response from the company by deadline time.
In its market update, PGW is cautiously optimistic about the balance of the year ahead.
“Based on current market signals and trading patterns, we anticipate delivering a full year forecast above $60 million at an operating earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation for the June 2026 year, up from $56.1m in 2025,” it said.
Investment firm Jarden has downgraded its recommendation for a2 Milk to “underweight” from “neutral”.
In August, the infant formula marketer announced plans to become a manufacturer in its own right with the purchase of Yashili New Zealand’s plant at Pōkeno.
The plan involved selling its majority-owned Mataura Valley Milk in Southland to Open Country Dairy for $100m, while picking up Yashili’s plant for $282m.
“We downgrade our rating to underweight, based on our fundamental assessment that a2 Milk’s more definable future growth prospects – including supply chain benefits – are now well-priced in at current levels,” Jarden said.
“Moreover, any potential upside delivery on these key elements carries an unknown quantification of future execution risk, which is difficult to assess upfront, notwithstanding the current management holds a strong track record and retains plenty of financial resource if required,” it said.
On a price earnings basis, current pricing also looked “stretched”.
Key risks were China’s macro-economic issues, competition and execution of its own manufacture transition.
Jarden’s target price is $7.85 compared with a current market price of around $10.57.
Forsyth Barr says there are signs the worst may be behind retirement village company Ryman Healthcare after delivering a strong second-quarter sales update.
Ryman has now upgraded 2026 sales expectations twice in just three months.
“After a painful few years, there are clear signs the worst may now be behind us,” the broker said.
“The current resales cadence should slow the build-up of bought-back stock materially, reducing a key cashflow drag and further de-risking the investment case.”
On revised estimates, Forsyth Barr expects Ryman to deliver modest positive free cashflow in 2026 for the first time in more than a decade.
The broker retained its “neutral” recommendation but increased its price target to $3.10 (from $2.65).
ASX-listed Australian explorer Uvre (ticker UVA) has debuted on the NZX as a secondary listing.
“This dual listing will help increase the appeal of Uvre shares to NZ’s extensive equity investment sector by making its securities easily accessible on their home exchange,” Perth-based Uvre said.
“That will in turn give Uvre exposure to New Zealand’s large pool of investment capital, including a substantial institutional investment base and an extensive retail investment network.”
Uvre, with a market cap of A$42m ($47.8m), has gold exploration assets in New Zealand.
They include brownfields gold projects in both the historical Hauraki Goldfields and the Otago Goldfields.
July was Mercury’s biggest month for hydro power generation since 1980, the company said in an update for the September quarter.
Five major weather events heading into the winter period delivered 291mm of rain over the Waikato catchment.
Mercury also said it had entered into a long-term power purchase agreement with packaging firm Visy to supply 115/gigawatt hours per annum of electricity over the initial 10-year term, with reduced volumes thereafter in the succeeding decade.
NZX has appointed Lisa Turnbull as its new chief executive of Smart, formerly known as Smartshares.
Turnbull has been the CEO of the NZX subsidiary, NZX Wealth Technologies, since 2017, successfully leading the investment platform from start-up to a key growth business within the NZX Group, with annual recurring revenue reaching $11.9m at the end of June 2025, NZX said.
“Smart has a huge opportunity in front of it that is exciting, with the KiwiSaver pool of funds expected to grow to around five times its present size by 2050,” it said.