S&A Produce has moved to quash trade gossip that the soft-fruit and vegetable supplier has been glossing over significant difficulties following last month’s announcement that it is to scale back plans for its Brierley site.
Rumours had abounded that former managing director John Davies has left the business, which had to be bailed out by his father-in-law Frank Green, and that the company is so cash-strapped that it is trying to sell off land to lease back, as well as falling short on sweetcorn supply contracts to the major multiples.
But this week, finance director Trevor Gregory told freshinfo that this negative slant is erroneous. He said: “In July, Frank Green made a further commitment to the business and bought John’s share and became managing director. John still remains within the business.
“Frank wanted S&A to take a different path from the one taken before of rapid growth, without necessarily focusing on sustainability.
“He has wanted the business to become more sustainable in Herefordshire, and without the distraction of poor community relations. So we are moving to more table-top production, which will reduce our acreage under polytunnels and our use of overseas labour. We are therefore decommissioning our rotational fields.”
S&A is also looking to sell all or part of its Brierley Farm estate. Gregory said: “We are in the business of growing fruit and are not property developers. Given the extent of investment in table-top production, we have a use for the cash from the sale of all or part of the land. If we sell the entire estate, it will be on the understanding that we lease back part of it… We do not want to invest in land, but in our business.”
Gregory conceded that there had been sweetcorn supply problems, but these were very short term and were caused by teething problems with a new packing line. He said: “That is why we asked Tesco in the short term to cover off any the shortfall with other suppliers, which it was happy to do.”
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