2025 wrap-up

Meri Kirihimete,

Merry Christmas everyone. This is our last business update for 2025, and I’d like to thank you for your contribution during the year.

We achieved some great things this year, and this is a good opportunity to reflect on some of the highlights and special mentions.

• In February we farewelled Chairman Sam Misonou who’d been with us since 2018 and welcomed our new Chairman Jay Horuichi.
• In November we received news that Five Star Beef’s restricted place notice – put in place as part of the country’s Mycoplasma bovis eradication programme – has been lifted. 
• The ANZCO Foods Rangitīkei team set a new record in August by processing more than 15,000 lambs in one week. The site introduced a new shift model this year which helped them achieve this milestone.
• Angel Bay set a new sales record in September – 59,000 packs sold in a single week, an average of 8,500 packs a day.
• Gourmet Breakfast Beef Sausage Patties, originally launched as a limited offer, were so popular they’re now a permanent part of the range. They’re available at most New Zealand supermarkets.
• We launched Onside, an app that helps us and farmers meet health and safety requirements more easily than the old manual system. The app received good uptake and positive feedback.
• In March, Rangitīkei celebrated 20 years in operation with a barbeque for employees. ANZCO built the site in 2005 and it now processes around 800,000 lambs each year.
• Marlborough’s boning room underwent a significant upgrade with a new layout that addresses potential audit risks, including new safety rails throughout the department and changes that reduce manual lifting. More on this later in the update.
• Eltham and Canterbury held successful fun days for their site people, with food, activities, health and wellbeing organisations, and a great chance to connect with people from around their sites.
• Congratulations to the many employees who celebrated major milestones of long service. It’s a special feature of our business that we have so many people who have significant long-service anniversaries.
• It was our second year as naming sponsor for IRONMAN New Zealand, and we had the most ANZCO employees we’ve ever had competing this year.
• In May we ran the Finding the Balance conferences in Christchurch and Napier. These were the third ANZCO-run conferences targeted at women in the agriculture industry.
• In February and March the Quality Assurance team held six events around the country which covered NZFAP Plus, natural resource and farm system maps, and land and freshwater management planning. The team also ran community engagement events in July and August.
• Our third Cyber Smart week ran in October. The Technology team launched new cyber awareness training and hit the road to visit sites and run sessions on cyber security at ANZCO.
• The Climate Change and Sustainability team ran its second annual focus month and began sharing water use statistics on screens during the month so sites can see how they’re tracking towards reducing water use. The jigsaw puzzle and carbon calculator competition were also popular.
• We continued focusing on Diversity & Inclusion with our new Local Heroes campaign. We also shared information about different events and holidays from cultures we have in our business including Chinese and Khmer New Year, Ramadan, Matariki, Diwali, and Māori Language Week.
• Our scholarship programme for family members of waged employees ran for the sixth year, and we awarded four scholarships of $5,000 for up to three years of tertiary study or towards an apprenticeship.
• In August we gave the New Zealand Food Network mince to celebrate its fifth year in operation, and recently sent them more mince for families in need this Christmas.

Thanks again for your contribution. I hope you can take the time to relax during the break and come back refreshed for 2026 and all that it holds.