Westpac NZ Becomes First Bank to Accept Zespri Shares as Lending Security
Westpac NZ has become the first New Zealand bank to receive approval from the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) to secure and leverage kiwifruit growers' Zespri shares.
Despite all the challenges, including weather, Zespri's global kiwifruit sales for the year were 2% up on the previous season to $3.99 billion, reflecting improved fruit quality and strong pricing secured throughout the season. This result was good considering that the actual number of trays of kiwifruit sold was down 10.5% to 164.2 million trays compared with 183.5 million sold in the previous season.
Zespri's net profit after tax was $173.3 million, down from $238.7 million in 2022/23, mainly driven it says by reduced licence revenue.
In terms of grower returns, those who fared best were those with Zespri green, Zespri green 14 and SunGold with their returns per hectare up on the previous season. However organic green and organic SunGold were down. Zespri ruby Red was almost on a par with the previous season.
Zespri's chief executive Dan Mathieson says the results reflect the industry effort to lift fruit quality, along with strong consumer demand for Zespri Kiwifruit, which he says is encouraging.
