Page 5 - Food&Drink magazine April-May 2023

NEWS
ASIC starts Freedom Food action
THE Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is suing Noumi – formerly Freedom Foods Group – and its former CEO and managing director Rory Macleod and former CFO Campbell Nicholas for alleged disclosure failures and breaches of director and officer duties.
ASIC alleges Freedom Foods failed to disclose material information about the value of inventories in its financial reports for the full year ending 30 June 2019 and the half year ending 31 December 2019.
ASIC deputy chair Sarah Court said directors and company officers are fundamentally responsible to ensure their business complies with the law.
“However,inthiscaseASICallegesFreedom Foods’ former CEO and CFO misled investors, auditors and directors, and allowed their
company to breach continuous disclosure laws by failing to disclose a significant write-down, leading to an uninformed market,” Court said.
In 2020, the company uncovered significant issues regarding inventory management, its staff equity incentive plan and other accounting matters.
Freedom Foods recorded
$590 million in write-downs; almost $175 million in losses for the year; restating several years’ results, including FY19 pivoting from an
$11.6 million profit to a $145.8 million loss.
ASIC also alleges the company failed to disclose
material information about its sales revenue, gross profit, and profit after tax in its financial report for the half year ending 31 December 2019.
ASIC further alleges that Macleod gave false or misleading information to directors, auditors, and shareholders of Freedom Foods, as well as the ASX, by representing that the full year and half year reports were accurate.
Nicholas is also alleged to have provided false or misleading information to Freedom Foods’ auditors and directors.
ASIC is seeking declarations of contravention, pecuniary penalties, disqualification orders andcosts. ✷
ABOVE: Milklab is one of noumi’s leading brands.
Scott’s enters receivership
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ASIC SUES NOUMI
ASIC is suing Noumi – formerly Freedom Foods Group – and its former CEO and former CFO for alleged disclosure failures and breaches of director and officer duties.
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SCOTT’S COLLAPSE
Australia’s largest fully integrated cold-chain logistics provider, Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics, went into receivership.
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BEGA BRANCHES INTO PLANT-BASED The company that has
been in the dairy business for more than 100 years
has launched a dairy-free plant-based cheese range.
V2FOOD
MATURES
Founder and CEO of Australia’s well known plant-based meat company v2food, Nick Hazell, has resigned. COO Tim Cook is now CEO.
VOW APPLIES TO FSANZ
Before the Mammoth Meatball (see page 5), Vow applied to FSANZ to amend the food standards code and rule its cultivated quail meat product is safe for humans to eat.
COLES GROUP NEW CEO
Coles chief
executive,
commercial and
express, Leah
Weckert will
take the helm
of Coles Group
from 1 May, when the
current CEO and managing director Steven Cain retires.
IMPOSSIBLE
NUGGETS STOPPED
A shipment of Impossible Food’s plant-based chicken nuggets was stopped because it contained an ingredient prohibited from being in food under the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code.
AUSTRALIA’S largest fully integrated cold-chain logistics provider, Scott’s Refrigerated Logistics, went into receivership, with KordaMentha appointed receiver.
Scott’s employs around
1500 people. Its customers include suppliers to the major retailers, and as a distributor for some of those retailers, independent supermarkets, food manufacturers, and exporters. The logistics company serviced customers from 24 cold storage facilities across Australia with a transport fleet of around 500 trucks and 450 rail containers.
KordaMentha partner Scott Langdon said it expected a high level of interest in the business and its assets, “given its significance in the cold chain supply system in Australia”.
“Right now, we are seeking
support from all customers to give the business the best chance of being sold to a new long-term owner,” Langdon said.
A spokesperson for Woolworths Group told Food & Drink Business they were aware several of its supply partners could be affected by the news.
“It’s early days and we’re watching developments closely. We are in the process of contacting those suppliers to
get a better understanding of how Woolworths can support them,” the spokesperson said.
Anchorage Capital Partners (ACP) bought Scott’s in 2020 for $75 million from car dealership group AP Eagers.
The Transport Workers Union (TWU) said the sector was Australia’s deadliest industry and in the top 10 for insolvencies, with razor-thin margins common for
transport operators.
✷
Scott’s had Australia’s largest refrigerated fleet.
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