logo
Organic vege grower in liquidation

Organic vege grower in liquidation

A North Otago organic vegetable growing business, recently approached to appear on Country Calendar, has gone into voluntary liquidation owing more than $1 million, while a subsidiary company owes more than $300,000.
Organic Solutions, which traded as Oamaru Organics, is 53.45% owned by James Porteous — who is also the sole director — and Australian-based Lanson International Holdings Pty Ltd (46.55%).
Touted as the largest organic market garden in the South Island, it sold vegetables both at a roadside stall at Totara and through the Otago Farmers Market.
In a statement, Mr Porteous said the farm had ''long struggled with chronic overstaffing'', which significantly increased its financial burden and led to an accumulation of debt with the IRD.
He said he stepped in to directly manage farm operations in August, reducing staff numbers from nine to one and introducing mechanisation.
He said the farm became compliant with all ongoing tax obligations and began rapidly repaying historic tax arrears. Per-hectare revenue increased 39% and he proposed a ''realistic'' repayment plan, which was declined by the IRD.
The company would continue to operate and supply customers to the best of its ability throughout the farm sale process, he said.
Incorporated in 2014, it originally owned Thai restaurants around the South Island and bought the 23ha farm — one of its main suppliers — for $1.7m in 2019 to maintain supply.
The deal was later found to have breached the Overseas Investment Act because Lanson International Holdings — whose majority shareholder was Mr Porteous' friend Marc Lanson — owned more than 46%.
The rules stated Australians could not have more than a 25% share of any purchase of New Zealand land bigger than 5ha without gaining consent first. Organic Solutions was fined $20,000 and retrospective consent had to be sought.
In his first report, liquidator Brenton Hunt, of Insolvency Matters, said the majority of the restaurants were closed due to the outcome of the Covid-19 restrictions.
According to Mr Porteous, the business had struggled to be economic for some time. Inland Revenue payments had fallen behind and the IRD had begun recovery action. The last annual accounts completed for the company were in March 2022.
Plant and equipment and motor vehicles were to be collected and sold and there was finance owing on vehicles, Mr Hunt said. The land and buildings were also to be listed and sold (first mortgage owing).
Under preferential creditors, staff holiday pay was estimated at $10,000 and GST and PAYE were estimated at $900,000.
Unsecured creditors were estimated to be owed $1m and the total estimated shortfall to all creditors was estimated at $1,279,500.
An associated company, Southern Organics, which is wholly owned by Organic Solutions, of which Mr Porteous was also sole director, was placed in voluntary liquidation the same day.
That company, which was incorporated in November 2020 and ceased trading in November last year, produced organic soup products, and bought vegetables from the shareholding company.
According to Mr Porteous, the soup products originally sold well but sales were not enough to make it economic and it was very seasonal.
At the end of winter last year, the lease of a kitchen in Christchurch was surrendered and trading stopped.
Under preferential creditors, staff holiday pay was estimated at $20,000, while Inland Revenue GST and PAYE was estimated at $40,000. Unsecured creditors were estimated to be owed $300,000.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Australia's property rules may push global capital to NZ
Australia's property rules may push global capital to NZ

Techday NZ

time34 minutes ago

  • Techday NZ

Australia's property rules may push global capital to NZ

An Australian regulatory change restricting foreign purchases of residential property is forecast to shift international investor attention to New Zealand, prompting debate over whether New Zealand is positioned to capitalise on this opportunity. Australian property ban Australia has implemented legislation that prohibits foreign buyers from acquiring established residential dwellings between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2027. This policy aims to address concerns around housing affordability and availability. However, it may also re-route significant volumes of global capital, with high net worth purchasers now searching for alternative destinations for investment in the region. Caleb Paterson, Founder of Paterson Luxury Real Estate, believes these changes represent an important turning point for New Zealand. According to Paterson, if New Zealand does not make its own foreign buyer policies clearer and more inviting, billions in investment risk bypassing the country entirely. Missed opportunities Paterson noted that New Zealand's current uncertainty with residential property rules for overseas buyers may have already resulted in lost opportunities, as investors look toward destinations offering a more straightforward acquisition process. "We've had deals collapse because investors couldn't buy a home to settle here first. That's an avoidable failure of policy. Meanwhile, in places like Dubai, capital is being welcomed and economies are booming because of it." He argues New Zealand's offering of political stability, attractive natural environment, and high-quality lifestyle remains a drawcard, but these are not translating into investment without a streamlined and reliable path for international purchases. "New Zealand has a unique combination of political stability, natural beauty and a lifestyle that's incredibly appealing to global investors. They're not just looking to park capital, they want a safe, long-term base for their families and their businesses. What's missing is a clear pathway for them to invest and if we don't act they'll go elsewhere. We are talking about an investment in the billions right when the economy needs it most. "I'm dealing with ultra-high-net-worth clients from China, Canada, the US and the UK who are currently sitting on the fence. They want to invest here not just in homes, but in businesses, developments, the tech sector and other industries but they're not going to do that while the rules remain unclear." Paterson warns that uncertainty could see investment redirected to more accessible markets, highlighting the UAE as a major competitor. He attributes recent policy ambiguities to a situation where "hundreds of millions in immediate capital" is held back, awaiting regulatory clarity. "We're talking about people with serious capital including a $4 billion syndicate from Taiwan, developers with $70 million commercial projects sitting ready and expats and migrants waiting to buy homes, set up companies and inject money into our economy," he says. "I recently had someone trying to bring in a major international coffee roasting brand, but they couldn't get a foothold here because they couldn't buy a family home first to get settled," he says. Changing investor sentiment According to Paterson, Canada's proposed wealth tax and ongoing political shifts in the United States have increased the number of international investors considering New Zealand, but competing jurisdictions like Dubai are attracting attention due to the clarity of their investment rules. "I've got clients telling me they'll take their money to Dubai where they know what the rules are. There's no shortage of appealing alternatives," he says. Paterson reports that uncertainty in New Zealand has also affected local real estate activity, with as much as 40% of luxury listings withdrawn over the past year as sellers waited for the possibility of rule changes. He says the result is a stagnant high-end market, impacting not only buyers and sellers but also broader economic sectors tied to property transactions. "Everyone's being impacted, even high-net-worth individuals who are less agile right now. This winter will be our coldest yet, metaphorically. People can't keep borrowing to stay afloat and we're going to see more financial strain. "This isn't about pitying someone in a $15 million home. It's about what happens when they can't sell, builders aren't contracted and tradespeople sit idle. The wealth isn't circulating and the economy suffers. "I'm probably one of the few people in the country who speaks to around 20 high-net-worth individuals a day. These people are worth $4 to $5 million or more on paper but right now every single one of them is feeling pressure. It's not just one or two outliers; across the board, I'm hearing stories of business strain, stalled investments and uncertainty. "Unless you're a billionaire, people are navigating real challenges. We need a solution that gets capital flowing again, not just for their sake, but for the broader economy that depends on that investment." Regional implications Paterson also highlights the impact on regions beyond New Zealand's main urban centres, suggesting that allowing limited high-value international buyers could stimulate development and economic activity in outlying areas. "Outside of Auckland and Queenstown, opening the door to high-value international buyers would also unlock stalled developments in regions like Northland, the Bay of Plenty, and Central Otago. These are areas where investment could mean hundreds of new homes, jobs for local tradies, and real economic momentum outside the main centres." Market effects and policy recommendations Paterson contends that if the New Zealand Budget were to introduce a clear threshold for overseas residential investment, significant pent-up demand could be released, resulting in rapid market movement. "Even if international buyers were allowed back into the market tomorrow, we wouldn't see a spike in prices straight away. There's a significant backlog of unsold high-end stock, it could take 12 to 18 months just to clear that. What we'd see first is volume returning, not price pressure. And that's exactly what the market needs right now - movement. "I could quadruple my sales volume in a month. We have listings ready to go, marketing prepared, and global agents waiting. "The economic impact would be almost immediate with millions of dollars in real estate value unlocked we just need the green light," he says. Paterson warns that the absence of action could mean New Zealand risks losing both the immediate benefit of investment capital and the long-term advantage as an attractive destination for international investors. "We've got the lifestyle and the stability investors want. Now we just need to show them that we're open for business before they go elsewhere."

Cohesity & 11:11 launch cloud clean room for cyber recovery
Cohesity & 11:11 launch cloud clean room for cyber recovery

Techday NZ

time34 minutes ago

  • Techday NZ

Cohesity & 11:11 launch cloud clean room for cyber recovery

Cohesity and 11:11 Systems have announced the general availability of a cloud-based clean room recovery service designed to support organisations in responding to and recovering from cyber incidents. Rising cyber-attacks The increasing frequency and sophistication of cyber-attacks globally have led organisations to seek more robust solutions for cyber resilience. The service, named 11:11 DRaaS for Cohesity with Clean Room Recovery, provides organisations with a secure, isolated cloud-based environment. This enables businesses to investigate incidents, identify safe data copies, and restore operations after a cyber breach. This development is particularly timely as businesses in Australia and New Zealand continue to face what industry commentators have described as an unprecedented number of cyber-attacks impacting day-to-day operations and service continuity. "With Australian and New Zealand business' facing an unprecedented number of cyber-attacks, it's essential that IT leaders have a range of tools at their disposal to not only prevent breaches but, be able to thoroughly investigate how attackers breached the security parameter, in the case of a successful attack. A managed recovery solution allows businesses to overcome common barriers such as cost or lack of in-house expertise, and helps our customers identify gaps in their cyber resilience strategies, preventing future breaches." Marc Beder, General Manager, APAC, 11:11 Systems, outlined the need for comprehensive tools and managed solutions that facilitate not only prevention but also robust response and analysis in the aftermath of security incidents. Clean room service details The 11:11 DRaaS for Cohesity with Clean Room Recovery combines Cohesity's core clean room technology with 11:11 Systems' incident recovery and managed service expertise. The solution enables organisations to quickly create an air-gapped, isolated environment for forensic investigation by security teams, aiming to reduce recovery time and limit business disruption. Unlike traditional clean room facilities—which often require significant capital and operational investment—this service is delivered in a secure, cloud-based, per-terabyte subscription, with no upfront capital or operational costs for users. It is underpinned by a 100 percent uptime service-level agreement (SLA) from 11:11 Systems. The service provides a clean room environment where uncompromised data replicas can be identified and operations restored rapidly. Enterprises benefit from access to the relevant expertise and tools at each point in the incident response process, supporting a more agile and cost-effective recovery. The offering aims to cover the full spectrum of incident response activities, including preparation, initiation of recovery, damage mitigation, and the restoration of services, effectively extending beyond conventional backup and disaster recovery approaches. Industry commentary "As the threat landscape continues to evolve, organisations need advanced tools and trusted partners to safeguard their operations," said Vasu Murthy, Chief Product Officer, Cohesity. "At Cohesity, we're committed to meeting those needs both through continuing to offer new innovations in our data security platform and by creating new solutions with industry-leading partners. This solution reflects the next evolution of our partnership with 11:11 Systems. It extends our cyber resilience capabilities with a powerful, easy-to-deploy clean room that helps our customers practice and recover from cyber-attacks faster." Justin Giardina, Chief Technology Officer, 11:11 Systems, said the partnership with Cohesity allows for the delivery of a managed, enterprise-focused recovery service without the logistical hurdles and costs of building and maintaining such capabilities in-house for every organisation. "Combining our managed recovery expertise and purpose-built infrastructure with Cohesity's modern data security platform allows us to deliver a sophisticated yet accessible service for enterprise cyber incident recovery. Now we can enable true operational resilience for the modern enterprise without forcing customers to build it all in-house." Roy Illsley, Chief Analyst at the research firm Omdia, commented on the significance of a combined clean room platform: "With so much on the line, having a clean room platform with a complete set of tools to identify, isolate, and repair the damage from a cyber-attack is critically important. The clean room capabilities and proven expertise offered by Cohesity and 11:11 Systems show the value of two separate vendors working together to introduce a new approach to cyber recovery going forward." Service lifecycle and support The platform supports full lifecycle cyber incident response, including detection, isolation, mitigation, and restoration of services. Incident response professionals are available at all times to assist organisations in addressing threats and resuming operations. This structure seeks to enhance both compliance and business continuity requirements. 11:11 Systems provides 24/7 support, drawing on extensive experience in disaster recovery and cyber incident recovery services, with the intention of helping customers overcome a lack of internal expertise and respond to the evolving nature of cyber threats confidently. The clean room recovery solution is part of a wider partnership between Cohesity and 11:11 Systems, which has also produced 11:11 Cyber Vault and 11:11 Disaster Recovery services. Both companies state that they remain committed to advancing their suite of cyber resilience offerings for customers across North America, Europe, and Australia.

Genesis picks Workday to modernise finance for NZD $1 billion push
Genesis picks Workday to modernise finance for NZD $1 billion push

Techday NZ

time3 hours ago

  • Techday NZ

Genesis picks Workday to modernise finance for NZD $1 billion push

Genesis Energy has chosen Workday to overhaul its finance systems as part of a strategic programme aimed at modernising the company's core financial operations. The decision will see Genesis deploy Workday's cloud-based platform, working with support from consulting firm Accenture. The initiative forms part of Genesis' wider effort to build a finance function that is adaptive and robust enough to support the company's future ambitions as it executes its Gen35 energy transition strategy. Finance transformation The Workday system offers a scalable foundation to streamline processes and equip Genesis' staff with improved tools. According to Genesis, these enhancements are expected to enable better integration of critical systems, help the business manage evolving financial requirements and, ultimately, support both customer outcomes and shareholder value. The programme comes as Genesis commits to over NZD $1 billion in renewable generation investments by the 2030 financial year, as the energy provider aligns with New Zealand's net zero 2050 objectives and works to ensure a resilient and affordable electricity supply. Julie Amey, Chief Financial Officer at Genesis, outlined several anticipated benefits of the Workday platform. Amey said: "Implementing the Workday Finance platform will provide Genesis with an out-of-box solution to leverage best practice finance and business processes with future-ready technology. By automating routine tasks, enhancing reporting capabilities, improving data accessibility, and significantly boosting both finance and business usability, the new system allows our finance community to focus on higher-value activities and enhanced business partnering." The company's Chief Transformation and Technology Officer, Ed Hyde, noted that Workday's implementation will support the efficient management of Genesis' portfolio during New Zealand's transition towards more renewable sources of electricity. Building out digital capability Jonathan Brabant, Regional Sales Director for Workday New Zealand, welcomed Genesis to a roster of local employers using the platform, stating: "Organisations like Genesis are vital to New Zealand's economy and communities. We're proud to support their ambition through their Gen35 strategy, helping enable the digital foundation needed to deliver a more sustainable, renewable energy future for Aotearoa." Genesis now joins more than 30 New Zealand-based employers who have selected Workday, including major corporations across the banking, energy, and construction sectors, as well as over a dozen public sector organisations such as government agencies and academic institutions. The platform's adoption across these groups demonstrates its increased market presence and recognition in both public and private arenas. Sector-wide adoption Workday's momentum in New Zealand's energy sector is further evidenced by Mercury's recent migration to the system. Mercury announced last year that it was moving from a legacy SAP finance system to a suite of Workday Financials tools including Core Finance, Financial Planning, Projects, and Prism Analytics. At the time, Mercury's Chief Financial Officer William Meek explained the expected advantages of the transition: "Along with changes in the way our wonderful finance people work, the Workday system will create more financial visibility for everyone at Mercury, enabling better informed financial and business decisions. Our finance team will be freed from many manual tasks to focus on being trusted advisors, and all of our people will have access to a streamlined, natural user experience and embedded workflow management across functional areas." Mercury anticipated that Workday Financials would help transform its finance function into a more effective business partner, with the ability to drive business growth through simplified processes and new operating approaches. According to Mercury, the cloud-based system promises ongoing adaptability and evolution, as well as actionable insights to improve business performance across the company. Platform features Workday's platform incorporates artificial intelligence and machine learning features designed to enhance the user experience, increase operational efficiency and enable quicker, data-driven decision-making. These technologies are expected to contribute to more responsive, effective finance functions and improved organisational outcomes as more New Zealand employers move to modern digital systems.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store