Manuka honey company sold for $36m

Sky TV co-founder Terry Jarvis sells mānuka honey company for $36m

The business has been bought by health and wellness company Me Today.

www.stuff.co.nz

another operation sold, great time to get out gotta wonder whether the buyers have been sucked into the hype. Time will tell I guess .

 

[Br. Adamson]

It looks like it might be time to update this insightful thread with an announcement from Me today about the performance of their $36m bee business. Announcement here: Me Today 31 March 2022 results and Capital raise - NZX, New Zealand’s Exchange . Value of King Honey impaired by $10m. It cost $1.2m more to produce this seasons honey than it is worth. The decision has been made to sell off all the far-flung hives. It would appear theey are in for the long haul with the honey brand but have realised the true value of thier beekeeping businesses at the present time.

 

[Alastair]

Thanks for updating on this Br. Adamson.

Looks like everything I said in the thread has proved correct and the company directors have now acknowledged the company is worth far less than what they paid for it.

They are also in a loss making situation with sheds full of honey they can't sell, and are appealing to their share holders to put in more money. When share holders are asked for money to finance planned growth it's usually a good thing. When share holders are asked for money to prop up a loss making operation it is often the start of a downwards spiral.

In my view this was completely obvious at the time, however I see this type of blinkered thinking in the corporate world all the time, I sometimes wonder how these people with QUOTE - "Look at the backgrounds of the 'Me Today' directors? There is brand and business success written all over it", how these supposed experts cannot see the obvious.

I'm sad for them but I think they walked into this company wearing rose tinted glasses and completely ignored some blatant warning signs, that were obvious to most beekeepers "on the ground".

 

[James]

Ah yep …. Seen it all before…. When I was a ‘Corporate’ …the Head Honcho and his business manager and accountant never once took up the invite to ride shotgun with me for the day and see the sharp end of the hivetool…. Which I guess is why that corporate business folded aswell.
I’m not sure what the moral to the story is ….. the bigger u get, the noisier the crash.
Wonder what they gonna do with all the bees?

 

[Alastair]

Wonder what they gonna do with all the bees?

Only one thing they can do, and that is flog them off to the best bidder (if they can find one), for far less than they paid for them. I already see a big negative balance sheet for next year looming.

If I was one of their share holders, would I be taking up their new issue? Do the maths

 

[tristan]

keep in mind a lot of these companies will play the long game and don;t expect profit for quite some time.
if their new retail outlets are successful they should get back to profitability rather fast. of course they may just run out of money before that happens.

biggest issue for everyone else is what happens to the hives. do they get sold off or just dumped and left to die.

 

[yesbut]

Anyone care to reveal the price beeks are getting for manuka at the moment ?

 

[tristan]

Anyone care to reveal the price beeks are getting for manuka at the moment ?

no idea on price but i understand trying to get rid of it is the bigger issue.
the problem people will run into is you can only store it for so long before things like HMF start to rise and you have to get rid of it, otherwise risk it becoming worthless. what compounds it for small guys is lack of RMP storage, so they are paying someone for storage.
for us we don't want people to store it here at all as it causes logistic issues.

i know of one crowd where the buyer tore up their supply contract and now there are stuck with a good harvest and no buyer.

price isn't everything.

 

[stoney]

Anyone care to reveal the price beeks are getting for manuka at the moment ?

Desperate for income are selling mono for $5.00, me I’m out shooting deer for Petfood at $2.00 kg .. about as profitable as selling for $5.00 without selling my stash. Crazy times.

 

[Alastair]

Wow I didn't know it was that bad .

What has caused this? Overproduction from Australia?

 

[Alastair]

Is that mono UMF 5, or UMF less than 5?

 

[Fieldbee (Mary)]

Ah yep …. Seen it all before…. When I was a ‘Corporate’ …the Head Honcho and his business manager and accountant never once took up the invite to ride shotgun with me for the day and see the sharp end of the hivetool…. Which I guess is why that corporate business folded aswell.
I’m not sure what the moral to the story is ….. the bigger u get, the noisier the crash.
Wonder what they gonna do with all the bees?

What bees @James ???!!.
Oh do you mean all the hiveware in a yard full of waxmoth.
I got it from a man, shall we say on the ground, that they now have about 800 boxes with flying bees.

You could maybe guess what is now happening to the useless gear.

 

[Alastair]

Beekeeping is a complex endeavour.

The steady stream of unprepared tryers that have taken it up and failed over the last few years amazes me.

 

[James]

What bees @James ???!!.
Oh do you mean all the hiveware in a yard full of waxmoth.
I got it from a man, shall we say on the ground, that they now have about 800 boxes with flying bees.

You could maybe guess what is now happening to the useless gear.

Hmmmm ….. same the world over …. Passed by this bee site in Mississippi yesterdsy!! They. Appeared a lil bit derelict for this time of year…..

 

[Dansar]

Hmmmm ….. same the world over …. Passed by this bee site in Mississippi yesterdsy!! They. Appeared a lil bit derelict for this time of year…..View attachment 1464View attachment 1464

Swarm catchers…..