Victorian food manufacturer and distributor, Katoomba Global Foods (KG Foods), has acquired Paris Creek Farms (PCF) from Maggie Beer Holdings (MBH), three years after the company first announced it would offload its dairy assets.
KG Foods bought PCF for $500,000 with all existing liabilities, including staff entitlements. MBH said the sale would result in annualised cashflow savings of $2.2 million.
Maggie Beer Products (MBP) and PCF GM, Hamish McLeay, said it would allow the company to sharpen its “strategic focus” on core premium brands.
“This divestment enables us to simplify our operations and better allocate resources to the areas with the greatest potential for growth. We’re pleased to see Paris Creek Farms continue under the ownership of KG Foods, with local jobs and brand presence maintained,” McLeay said.
In FY23, the underperformance of PCF and St David Dairy accounted for more than half ($2.8 million) of the financial impacts ($4.2 million) from Covid, the war in Ukraine, and lockdowns in China, and were declared non-core assets. St David Dairy was sold in September 2023 to Goulburn Valley Creamery.
A year later and still not sold, MBH announced it would keep PCF, sweat the asset and and utilise its operations to produce MBP cheeses.
But PCF’s future was called into question again after it recorded a 10 per cent revenue drop in 1H24. By the end of FY24, MBH had recorded a $28 million loss and PCF a further six per cent drop in sales.
CEO at the time, Kinda Grange, said, “The deterioration in our PCF business has had a significant impact on the group’s financial results and we are undertaking an urgent review of this business.”
MBH’s 1H25 financials reported lacklustre figures including another five per cent drop in sales, and no CEO replacement for Kinda Grange, who had resigned in July 2024.
MBH chair, Mark Lindh said the sale was in line with the company’s focus on refining operational priorities.
“The divestment of Paris Creek Farms is an important step in our strategy of simplification and accelerated profitability for MBH. We look forward to updating our shareholders on all of our progress with the release of the Company’s full year results,” Lindh said.
