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Fruit growers chase $6m for merger
12 May 2004
More than 200 fruit growers want a half share of SPC Ardmona's $12 million merger savings, which resulted from the 2002 merger between the two Goulburn Valley canneries. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will investigate the matter next month, after meeting with growers last Friday. The growers claim SPC Ardmona promised a share in the company's savings if it got a vote in favour of the merger.
Initially SPC Ardmona predicted the merger would produce savings of at least $5 million, but last February the figure rose to at least $12 million, the Northern Victorian Fruitgrowers' Association said. President Ian Bolitho said growers don't believe it's unfair to ask for a 50 per cent share in SPC Ardmona's savings. Growers want all canning fruits, such as pears, apricots and peaches, to increase in price by $70 a tonne next season. This season the company increased pear prices by $25 a tonne and it only cost them $900,000, Mr Bolitho said.
Weekly Times, 12/5/04, page 4.
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