Kingston is promoted to chief operating officer of T&G Global’s apples business overseeing the entire value chain
Shane Kingston has been appointed chief operating officer of T&G Global’s apples business, less than 12 months after joining the group in January 2024 as director of international sales and marketing.
Kingston, who formally started the COO position on 1 November, is now overseeing the entire value chain for T&G apples. This includes growing and quality control, post-harvest, sales and operation planning, supply chain and global sales and marketing across more than 60 countries.
“It’s an exciting time to be in the pipfruit industry,” said Kingston on taking up the COO role. “With the combination of our great brands such as Envy and Jazz apples, world-class growing and post-harvest systems, and a fantastic team, we’re well-placed to realise T&G’s ambitious growth plans.”
“The establishment of this new role is just one of the ways we’re positioning our apples business for continued success and ensuring we can meet growing global consumer demand for our premium brands.”
T&G Global reduced its operating loss to NZ$2.6m in the first six months of 2024, down from a loss of NZ$11.6m in the corresponding period of 2023. The group’s net loss after tax for the first half of 2024 was NZ$18.6m, including a tax expense of NZ$10.4m.
Total revenue for the group increased 7 per cent to NZ$820.1m, and the apples business was a driver of growth, with revenue up 14 per cent to NZ$589m. Commenting on the result, T&G Global CEO Gareth Edgecombe said T&G’s “apples strategy” was “maturing” and the business was expected to be “a strong contributor to profitability” for the group as volumes increase.
Before joining T&G, Kingston worked across several different roles at Diageo, including global commercial performance director, based in Singapore. Most recently, he was general manager of sales, marketing and outbound logistics at Alliance Group.
