Maggie Beer Holdings will sell Meadows-based Paris Creek Farms

Maggie Beer Holdings will sell its Paris Creek Farms dairy division in the Adelaide Hills after posting a steep loss on writedowns of more than $18m.

Maggie Beer founded the company, which has had a difficult year.

Maggie Beer Holdings will sell its Paris Creek Farms dairy division in the Adelaide Hills after posting a steep loss on writedowns of more than $18m.

The gourmet food company’s sales revenue was up 0.8 per cent on the previous year, coming in at $89.7m, with revenue in its Maggie Beer Products division up 6.3 per cent, “driven by category expansion in retail and positive momentum in revenue growth from online sales’’.

But the Hampers and Gifts division only grew revenue 0.7 per cent over the financial year, while sales at Paris Creek fell 9.5 per cent, “primarily driven by lower milk supply’’.

Paris Creek is based at Meadows in the Adelaide Hills and focuses on organic and biodynamic products.

Maggie Beer Holdings booked a $13.8m impairment against the goodwill of the hampers division, which it paid $40m for in 2021, and wrote down Paris Creek Farms by $4.6m.

It also made a provision for $2.6m relating to an earn-out dispute over the hamper division and $800,000 for an onerous contract provision in Paris Creek.

The company said the results were “disappointing’’.

Maggie Beer Holdings chair Sue Thomas said the company had a growth plan in place for the current year.

“Maggie Beer Holdings has an absolute focus on returning the business to profitability, and capitalising on our two great assets: an iconic Australian brand and a leading online gifting business,’’ Ms Thomas said.

“These assets will enable the delivery of our vision to become Australia’s leading purveyor of

premium food and gifting products.’’

The renewal plans included developing brand partnerships, focusing on the company’s business-to-business strategy and scaling the e-commerce platform.

Ms Thomas said the company had also identified “significant areas of savings’’.

“We are focused on further reducing the company’s cost base, ensuring that we maintain margins and optimise operations to return the business to profitability in FY25,’’ she said.

“We have commenced this process and have identified significant areas of savings.

‘’Within online our focus is to maximise trading performance and profitability through the key Christmas trading period, including continued focus on corporate customers, personalisation, and targeted activation strategies to drive increased traffic and conversion.’’

Company founder Maggie Beer no longer has an executive role in the business however remains on the board.

Maggie Beer Holdings has no debt and had cash on hand of $4.7m at the end of June. The company did not pay any dividends during the year. Its shares fell 3 per cent to 6.4c on Friday.

Originally published as Maggie Beer Holdings will sell Meadows-based Paris Creek Farms