Is Wool Partners Co-Op Chair Jeff Grant Really in the Dark

Is Wool Partners Co-Operative Chair Jeff Grant Really in the Dark Over WPI Losses?

The chairman of the Wool Partners Co-operative only needs to check out the annual reports for PGG Wrightson to learn that the business he plans to buy has made a $5.8 million loss, says woolgrower, accountant and company director Janette Eason-Savage.

In an article published in the Otago Daily Times this morning Jeff Grant says he is “unsure” where the figures for a Wool Partners International loss of $5.8 million loss had come from. Mr Grant can find the answers on page 46 of the PGG Wrightson 2009 annual report and page 56 of the PGG Wrightson 2010 annual report, Ms Eason-Savage said.

“This is an appalling admission from the chairman of a company planning to buy Wool Partners International businesses via a $65 million capital raising from strong woolgrowers throughout New Zealand. Farmers money is going to be used for the purchase and he is “unsure” about the source of figures that are set out in the PGG Wrightson annual reports for the last two years,” Ms Eason-Savage said.

“This highlights the very points that I have made about the prospectus. It does not contain enough information for me, as a woolgrower to make a proper decision on whether we invest in Wool Partners Co-operative or not.

“In the least the co-operative should have produced information on the recent financial performance of the businesses it intends to acquire,” she said.

Last week Ms Eason-Savage accused former Telecom boss and Wool Partners Co-operative director Theresa Gattung of using her Telecom strategy of “confusion marketing” around the prospectus details.

“I asked for clarification about these losses and Ms Gattung’s answer was that Wool Partners International would have traded at a profit if it didn’t have to pay interest on its loans and that in the Wool Partners Co-operative structure, there will be shareholders’ funds instead of vendor loans.

“Another Wool Partners Co-operative director Mark Shadbolt is recently quoted in the media as saying WPI ‘had traded profitably and that’s what we are buying’.

“As a former chief executive of Telecom Ms Gattung once famously told a group of analysts that using confusion as a marketing tool was “fine” and you have to wonder whether we are seeing history repeat itself with Wool Partners Co-operative,” Ms Eason-Savage said.

ENDS

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