Survivor Titter to quit Affco

By PHILIPPA STEVENSON agricultural editor

Affco's key finance manager Andrew Titter has quit.

Executive chairman Sam Lewis said yesterday that Titter's unexpected resignation was a blow to the company.

The departure was not anticipated among the 65 head office redundancies the company announced last week, Lewis said.

Titter, who joined Affco 15 months ago under former chief executive Ross Townshend, is one of just three executives reporting directly to Lewis in a management team slimmed drastically over the past year in a "back-to-basics" restructuring.

Lewis said Titter, who joined Affco from Carter Holt Harvey, had been "very crucial" to the changes the company had made since the shock departure of Townshend soon after last year's annual meeting.

Townshend was quickly followed by most of the company's senior managers.

Titter made an outstanding contribution "not just to the financial operation of Affco but also on a broader scale across the company", said Lewis and he regretted the amicable departure which would come at the end of May.

A share analyst described Titter as very competent and his departure from Affco as significant.

The market was likely to have viewed the resignation as negative if not for the stabilising presence of major Affco shareholder Talleys, which has steadily bought the processor's shares in recent weeks.

The analyst speculated that Titter's salary package might have been reduced since the more generous Townshend era, but Titter denied money was behind his resignation. His salary had not dropped, he said.

A former Affco staffer said Titter had been attracted by a generous Townshend-era salary but the job was not the one he thought it was.

Titter would have preferred a company focusing on growth rather than cost control.

Titter said he discussed his position with Lewis six months ago and decided he wanted to be part of a different industry.

"I just think [with] the skills and attributes I have to offer ... once we get through the restructuring ... there's probably bigger and other opportunities in the marketplace I could be pursuing," he said.

He said his May departure would follow a significant devolution of management back to plants.

Meanwhile, Talleys has pipped Peter Spencer's Toocooya Nominees as the largest Affco shareholder after lifting its stake to more than 19 per cent in weeks of steady buying.

The fishing and food company stands to top 29 per cent ownership of Affco if the meat processor's shareholders next month approve a deal for Green and McCahill's 10.1 per cent.

Talleys stake rose from 18.1 to 19.3 per cent in the past two weeks.

Last week, Affco moved to compulsorily acquire and sell holdings of under 1000 shares, which would have released just over 1.9 million shares to the market, or 0.87 per cent of its more than 225 million total.