Egg producer seeks buyer
After half a century of growth as a family concern, the huge western Sydney-based Pace Farm egg business is up for sale.
Established in the Blacktown district's poultry, piggery and vegetable growing heartland at Dean Park in the 1970s, Pace Farm's carrying capacity now exceeds 3 million hens in 137 layer sheds at 32 sites spread from Tamworth in North West NSW to southern Victoria.
The family is reportedly seeking a private equity buyer or a strategic investor to take a significant stake in the company, and financial services group PwC has met with interested parties.
Frank and Dianna Pace's operation, which collects about 16.8m (1.4m dozen) eggs every week, is Australia's second biggest egg producer, supplying almost a third of the national market.
Most of its eggs sell through Woolworths supermarkets (about 40pc), Coles (12pc) and Aldi (10pc), but Pace also supplies Costco, IGA supermarkets and the McDonalds' fast food chain.
.........
Domain name fraud alert
A change to the way website names are handled could potentially open the door to fraudsters says NSW Farmers.
From this week businesses, associations and individuals with a local connection to Australia will be able to register ".au" domain names, which are touted as a way to simplify web addresses, but could also create a potential cybercrime risk.
"The changes created another avenue for cybercriminals to conduct fraudulent activity or impersonate someone online," said NSW Farmers regional service and sales manager, Jonathan Tuckfield.
"If you've got an existing email address as 'farmerjohn.com.au', you'll now be able to have 'farmerjohn.au' as well.
"That might not sound like a big deal, but it actually opens up a can of worms when it comes to cyber security, and we recommend farmers and country businesses register their .au domains as well.
"On the internet, it's easy to impersonate someone and a lot harder to detect fraudsters."
More than $33 billion was lost to cybercrime in the 2020-21 financial year, with fraud, online shopping scams and online banking scams among the top reported cybercrime types.
.........
Mobile phone worries rise
Complaints to the Telecommunications Industry Ombudsman about telephone and internet services fell 33.4 per cent last financial year.
However, the proportion of mobile phone complaints grew to almost 40pc, from 32.7pc the previous year - the highest proportion of complaints about mobile services in more than five years.
Complaints about poor mobile coverage grew 6.3pc and problems with partially restricted mobile services and mobile service drop outs increased 12.4pc and 9.9pc respectively.
On the positive side, problems about connection delays, failures to cancel services, and billing issues improved 40pc and complaints about a telco being uncontactable have decreased considerably among residential consumers and small businesses.
Some telco providers saw significant improvements in complaint numbers in 2021-22, notably complaints about Telstra fell 43.7pc, and complaints about Southern Phone dropped 47pc, but Aussie Broadband, Dodo and Medion (offering ALDImobile products and services) attracted more complaints.
.........
Apiam vet business grows
Increased dairy and mixed animal services have been a big revenue driver for expanding regional veterinary group, Apiam Animal Health, which lifted gross profit 37 per cent to $97.4 million for the 2021-22 financial year.
Revenue grew 25pc to $157m after a 44.5pc lift in underlying earnings before interest tax, depreciation and amortisation.
However, business in the beef feedlot and pig segments was dented by a low point in feedlot numbers and the challenges of Japanese encephalitis in the pork industry, which combined to cut revenue by 11pc.
Apiam bought nine vet businesses last financial year and a further two on July 1, boosting its footprint in growth markets in southern Queensland and the equine sector.
The July acquisitions were the Victorian Equine Group based at Bendigo and Romsey Veterinary Surgery between Melbourne and Bendigo.
Apiam took over Queensland's Scenic Rim Veterinary Services business a year earlier and the Agnes Banks Equine Clinic in NSW's Hawkesbury Valley in late 2021.
.........
Gale loses coverage profits
Tarpaulin and shade cloth maker and exporter, Gale Pacific, is celebrating a record second half of double digit revenue growth and net profit after tax of $7.8m, while at the same time posting a 38 per cent fall in full year profits to just $7.6m.
The Melbourne-based company, which supplies much of the grain industry's temporary storage covers at harvest, blamed international shipping and logistics delays and costs, plus operating restrictions involving its factory in China, market volatility and input cost inflation for its disappointing full year result.
However, US-based managing director, John Paul Marcantonio, was encouraged and energised by the momentum with which Gale finished the 2021-22 financial year.
"We are confident our brands and products have significant growth potential outside Australia and the US and now have the supply chain and operational capabilities to service this core element of our growth strategy," he said.
.........
Sprout Ag advice expands
Farmers leave a lot of their money "on the table" by not tendering out their banking needs at least every three years, says chief executive officer of Sprout Agribusiness, Troy Constance (pictured).
The average loan was around $3 million, and those not checking their lending structures and cost of funds paid an extra $585,000 during a generation.
His observations were aired as the integrated farm sector finance, succession planning and business advisory service recently opened its 10th office on the Queensland-NSW border at Goondiwindi.
Independently owned and founded in 2016 at Yass, Sprout Agribusiness boasts its work with clients through the entire farm lifecycle - from buying a first property to tp leaving it behind as a legacy for future generations.
The team includes 40 professionals in offices from Longreach to Albury.
.........
Rex has more jet plans
Regional Express is set to complete its $48 million purchase of Adelaide-based charter operator National Jet Express this month after getting approval for the takeover from the Foreign Investment Review Board and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
National Jet Express, sold by the British-owned Cobham Aviation Services Australia, provides fly-in, fly-out services and freight flights.
Meanwhile, having just added a seventh Boeing 737 to its own fleet, Rex has flagged it could add two more passenger jet aircraft by year's end, potentially opening services to Western Australia or extra east coast destinations.
Rex's new capital city routes have helped the airline lift its total market share of domestic passenger travel to five per cent.
Director Chris Hine told an aviation event Qantas's current operational woes, including baggage handling disputes, had become Rex's best promotional opportunity.
Rex has refused to comment on speculation Virgin Australia may be preparing to buy into the regional airline.
.........
US expert for The Yield
The Yield Technology Solutions has appointed Californian-based horticultural expert, Ryan Bolduan, as the company's new chief product officer and to its global senior leadership team.
The newly created role will be responsible for helping establish and build The Yield in North American markets and drive product development.
With offices in Australia and on the US west coast, The Yield's agricultural technology business is working to transform food and farming practices with scalable digital technology.
It uses real time data and artificial intelligence to improve the profitability and sustainability of large enterprise customers, including some of the largest global agrifood enterprises involved in intensive irrigated cropping.
Mr Bolduan's background is in the North American fresh produce industry, previously with global market leader in the fresh berry sector, Driscoll's.
The Yield's founder, Ros Harvey, said he had a wealth of experience across the value chain in horticulture which would strengthen the company's North American moves.
Start the day with all the big news in agriculture! Sign up below to receive our daily Farmonline newsletter.
.