The Country
  • The Country home
  • Latest news
  • Audio & podcasts
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life
  • Listen on iHeart radio

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • Coast & Country News
  • Opinion
  • Dairy farming
  • Sheep & beef farming
  • Horticulture
  • Animal health
  • Rural business
  • Rural technology
  • Rural life

Media

  • Podcasts
  • Video

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whāngarei
  • Dargaville
  • Auckland
  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Hamilton
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua
  • Tokoroa
  • Te Kuiti
  • Taumurunui
  • Taupō
  • Gisborne
  • New Plymouth
  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Whanganui
  • Palmerston North
  • Levin
  • Paraparaumu
  • Masterton
  • Wellington
  • Motueka
  • Nelson
  • Blenheim
  • Westport
  • Reefton
  • Kaikōura
  • Greymouth
  • Hokitika
  • Christchurch
  • Ashburton
  • Timaru
  • Wānaka
  • Oamaru
  • Queenstown
  • Dunedin
  • Gore
  • Invercargill

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / The Country

Fresh fruit producer T&G Global blames cyclone, challenging conditions for $46m net loss

NZ Herald
28 Feb, 2024 10:14 PM4 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

T&G says new season apple export volumes are looking strong. Photo / Paul Taylor

T&G says new season apple export volumes are looking strong. Photo / Paul Taylor

As signalled, cyclone-battered fresh-fruit producer T&G Global has turned in a FY23 loss before tax, which, at $64.2 million, is around the middle of a guidance range issued earlier this month.

The offshore-owned, NZX-listed apple exporter reported a net loss after tax of $46.6m, compared to a $900,000 net loss the previous year.

In FY22 the company posted a before-tax loss of $3.3m.

Revenue was $1.33 billion, a nudge up from $1.3b in FY22. Operating loss was $45.6m, down from $20.4m the previous year.

Earlier this month, the company, formerly Turners & Growers, forecast a FY23 loss before tax of between $60m and $67m, about double that of its assessment and forecast after Cyclone Gabrielle’s damage a year ago.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

That initial assessment, it said, was based on cyclone damage losses and the expected insurance recovery. In the statement to the NZX earlier this month, the company said the main reason for the change was the complexity of the insurance claim from the February 2023 cyclone damage, which caused delays in finalising the value of the insurance claim receivable at balance date.

Group global chair Benedikt Mangold said the loss reflected the cyclone’s physical and financial impact and a challenging year of growing and economic conditions.

“After three seasons of Covid-19-related disruptions, we came into the 2023 financial year focused on converting increasing demand into higher sales volumes. But the weather had other ideas.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

“The February cyclone completely disrupted our apples operations in Hawke’s Bay for five days, destroyed orchards on some 13 per cent of our planted hectares and interrupted our supply chains for export and domestic crops. The cyclone, along with five-year highs in rainfall and lows in sunshine across the year, made conditions more than challenging.”

But progress within the business and the strength of its strategy had not been undermined by the challenges, Mangold said.

“The impact will add at least 18 months to our strategy’s delivery, but it did not destroy its strong foundations or our confidence that we are on the right track. This meant we were able to keep achieving several positive milestones, despite lower volumes, financial constraints and some challenging growing conditions.

“The confidence of BayWa AG, T&G’s ultimate parent company, in the strategy and its delivery was demonstrated by its willingness to provide a $24m subordinated facility to support cyclone recovery work and working capital through the year,” he said.

Chief executive Gareth Edgecombe said the strategy guided priorities in the post-cyclone “chaos” and led to milestone achievements such as a fast-start programme to get Envy apples into high-value Asian markets as quickly as possible following the March harvest.

Apples revenue increased year-on-year by 3.2 per cent to $799m. Operating profit in apples was $10.6m compared to $27.8m in 2022.

New Zealand apple export volumes were 4 million TCEs, down from 5.2 million TCEs in 2022. US apple volumes for 2022-2023 were 4.4 million TCEs compared to the prior year’s 4.1 million TCEs.

In 2024, the company is forecasting 2.9 million TCEs of New Zealand Envy apples will be exported, up from 2.2 million in 2023, as the first fruit comes off new plantings and trees continue to mature.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

In Australia the business had been reorganised around its strongest categories of citrus, blueberries, grapes and asparagus, Edgecombe said. The Pacific Islands business had experienced strong trading with the post-pandemic return of tourism.

International trading revenue was $91.8m compared to $100.7m in 2022, with an operational loss of $5.1m compared to $2.6m in the prior year. This largely reflected the start-up costs and expected low initial yields from T&G’s Queensland blueberry farm, the company said.

T&G Global is 73.9 per cent owned by Germany’s Bay Wa Global. Hong Kong-based Wo Yang Limited is the second-largest shareholder with 19.9 per cent. The group has operations in 13 countries.

Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Horticulture

The Country

Sam Carter wins Hawke's Bay Young Grower title

09 Jun 04:17 AM
The Country

Rebecca Fisher wins lifetime achievement award for horticulture leadership

09 Jun 03:28 AM
The Country

MPI to review controls for tomato virus

09 Jun 02:30 AM

Why Cambridge is the new home of future-focused design

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Horticulture

Sam Carter wins Hawke's Bay Young Grower title

Sam Carter wins Hawke's Bay Young Grower title

09 Jun 04:17 AM

Carter's keen for others to give horticulture a go: “Once you try it, you can get hooked”.

Rebecca Fisher wins lifetime achievement award for horticulture leadership

Rebecca Fisher wins lifetime achievement award for horticulture leadership

09 Jun 03:28 AM
MPI to review controls for tomato virus

MPI to review controls for tomato virus

09 Jun 02:30 AM
Orchard project nurtures fruit trees and people

Orchard project nurtures fruit trees and people

07 Jun 04:59 PM
Clean water fuelling Pacific futures
sponsored

Clean water fuelling Pacific futures

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • NZ Herald e-editions
  • Daily puzzles & quizzes
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Subscribe to the NZ Herald newspaper
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • What the Actual
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven CarGuide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP