Latest / Best of Business / Karl Gradon: Comvita CEO on the company's future after failed rich-lister takeover

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Karl Gradon: Comvita CEO on the company's future after failed rich-lister takeover · Best of Business

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  Speaker 1: You're listening to a podcast from News Talk zed B.
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  Speaker 2: The official final result of the conveted takeover votes being
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  Speaker 2: released and as expected, are not going to happen. This
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  Speaker 2: is the proposed takeover by Florins. It's failed. Forty sorry,
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  Speaker 2: fifty four point twenty nine percent of shareholders were in favor.
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  Speaker 2: You need seventy five percent. A struggling minooka honey company
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  Speaker 2: has to come up with a plan B pretty quick.
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  Speaker 2: It's got sixty million dollars of debt right now that
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  Speaker 2: needs to be repaid in the first quarter of next year.
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  Speaker 2: Carl grayden is CEO with me now, Carl, good evening.
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  Speaker 3: Good evening, Thanks having me.
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  Speaker 2: So, what's the plan now? How are you going to
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  Speaker 2: pay this debt?
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  Speaker 3: Well, the shareholders have spoken and at the end of
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  Speaker 3: the day, we've now got a business as CEO that
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  Speaker 3: I need to continue to hit the results and delivering
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  Speaker 3: us the promises we've made. That's the first thing we
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  Speaker 3: need to do. And the board is very clear that
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  Speaker 3: they've now got to work with urgency, with both our
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  Speaker 3: lenders and advice to deliver a plan big so as
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  Speaker 3: you expect they have been thinking about this for quite
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  Speaker 3: some time as a contingency, quite a thoughtful board, and
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  Speaker 3: now the time is to act as a leadership team
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  Speaker 3: to deliver on the results. And the board is entirely
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  Speaker 3: focused on the recapitalization.
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  Speaker 2: You don't sound too worried about this. Is there a
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  Speaker 2: risk the company's going to fall over?
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  Speaker 3: I think that there is always collaboration to be had
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  Speaker 3: with our leading partners. We will be requiring equity going forwards,
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  Speaker 3: and I think that as a result of that, we
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  Speaker 3: need to be always thinking about the future scenarios. We
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  Speaker 3: have a great brand, we have a great shareholder base,
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  Speaker 3: and at the end of the day, we need to
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  Speaker 3: continue to deliver on the promise. And the good thing
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  Speaker 3: is in the last few months we have begun to
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  Speaker 3: deliver against the potential of the brand and deliver what
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  Speaker 3: we said we were going to do.
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  Speaker 2: No question about the brand. The brand is really strong.
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  Speaker 2: How's that recapitalization going to work? Do you think?
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think it's a little bit early to actually
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  Speaker 3: talk about that with any confidence. We're working alongside our
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  Speaker 3: lending partners, We're working alongside the board to ensure that
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  Speaker 3: all options continue to be explored. They have been working
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  Speaker 3: on this for quite some time as a contingency, so
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  Speaker 3: we'll be able to put it back to the INSIDEX
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  Speaker 3: and to your listeners as soon as we have the
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  Speaker 3: clarity on that. But so there is a lot of
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  Speaker 3: work going on behind the scenes.
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  Speaker 2: What options are you talking about, Karl.
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  Speaker 3: Well, we will need to work alongside our lending partners.
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  Speaker 3: We will need to go back out to market and
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  Speaker 3: potentially work on a recapitalization plan, and with that recapitalization
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  Speaker 3: comes a whole series of options which have not yet
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  Speaker 3: been fully explored. So we'll be working with our advisors
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  Speaker 3: and with our lenders to ensure that the brand is
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  Speaker 3: able to thrive.
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  Speaker 2: Why is there an oversupply or a supply issue with
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  Speaker 2: Honey at the moment?
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  Speaker 3: The post COVID situation really hit the industry quite hard.
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  Speaker 3: We had an oversupply of honey coming out of the
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  Speaker 3: aparies across the entire country. We had a surge in
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  Speaker 3: hive numbers which have since reduced significantly, and as the
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  Speaker 3: global market was looking for natural solutions to boost the community,
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  Speaker 3: they looked to Monica Honey and that drove confidence that
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  Speaker 3: would continue on that growth stored right at the time
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  Speaker 3: as people were investing in additional hives. So now that
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  Speaker 3: we're seeing the high numbers reduce and our sales rates increase,
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  Speaker 3: we're actually confident that that is no longer going to
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  Speaker 3: be the case. It will work through this glut of
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  Speaker 3: honey we've had in the past, but it's still hanging
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  Speaker 3: us and I think it will take a few months
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  Speaker 3: for it to continue to flow through the system.
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  Speaker 2: And Conveter will be around for a long time yet well.
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  Speaker 3: Conveter is the number one brand globally in Manukahane. We
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  Speaker 3: have the best distribution network globally. We have trusted partners
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  Speaker 3: around the world, we have some great aparies, and we're
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  Speaker 3: highly innovative with science based products. So when you're in
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  Speaker 3: our position, it is our brand that has the reputation
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  Speaker 3: and that's what we're going to continue to invest in.
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  Speaker 3: And we love to be here for a very long time.
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  Speaker 3: We've been here for fifty years and look to continue
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  Speaker 3: to be here for another fifty.
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  Speaker 2: All right, Carl, Carl, appreciate your time tonight. Carl Graden,
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  Speaker 2: Who's Convite our chief executive.
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