This year has been a big year for produce company Seeka, which is also New Zealand's largest kiwifruit grower. The Company has packed record kiwifruit volumes and undertaken a number of business acquisitions to grow the business by more than 30%.
In March Seeka acquired Opotiki Packing and Cool Storage Limited (“OPAC”) in Opotiki for NZD$59m made up of cash and Seeka shares.
This transaction allowed Seeka to be operational in all of New Zealand’s major kiwifruit growing regions and extended Seeka’s post-harvest business into the Opotiki and East Coast regions increasing Seeka's kiwifruit production by between 8 - 8.5 million trays predominantly of the SunGold variety. The deal also included a modern post-harvest packhouse and coldstore facilities and integrated orcharding business.
Seeka also bought into the innovative agri-tech start up called Fruitometry. This hi-tech company provides on-orchard solutions in scanning canopies and fruit to provide information to owners and orchard managers about the crop they are growing. Benefits from the system are wide ranging from labour management to better understanding crop estimates for capacity.
In November Seeka announced their acquisition or Orangewood Limited in Kerikeri for NZD $6.9m also made up of cash and Seeka shares. This acquisition combines the Orangewood volume with Seeka’s world class packhouse in Keri keri and utilises Seeka’s available capacity.
Then in December Seeka announced a third acquisition of Gisborne based NZ Fruits for NZD$21m made up of cash and shares. The Gisborne region is seeing a big growth in kiwifruit production with volumes, with an early maturity profile delivering fruit very early in the harvest season. CeoMichael Franks said the acquisition combined with their close by OPAC business enables Seeka to deliver a strong service to Gisborne growers.
Seeka has focussed on integration and delivering the strategy for each of the acquisitions so that they deliver great service and performance to growers at a great price, while delivering the accretive earnings to shareholders.
Seeka has achieved outstanding growth up to 2021, achieving 27% cumulative annual compound growth in enterprise value since 2012. The acquisitions completed in 2021, set the company up to continue.
