SPC Ardmona buys pomegranate business PomLife as part of major expansion push

SPC Ardmona’s new owners have grand plans for expansion, adding an exotic purchase to their arsenal.

General manager and co-founder of PomLife pomegranate growers Australia, Joshua Reuveni, in the Goulburn Valley. Picture: ANDY ROGERS

SPC Ardmona has signed off on the purchase of a pomegranate fruit brand in one of the cannery’s first moves for rapid expansion this year.

PomLife, a 12-year-old company started by neighbouring Australian Pomegranate Growers in the Goulburn Valley, has been added to SPC’s armoury to push further into export markets and extend its offering with more exotic fruits that will be made into desserts, healthy snacks and other value-added products.

SPC Ardmona chief executive Robert Giles said the deal involved the purchase of the brand name, their products, contracts – including with Woolworths and Coles – and machinery. The purchase price has not been disclosed.

Australian Pomegranate Growers will retain ownership of their 100ha farm – planted with about 80,000 pomegranate trees – and will harvest and supply seasonal fruit to SPC on an annual basis.

“As we continue to grow SPC into a global leader in the food and beverage market, we have

been investing in expanding our range within our fruit basket. Bringing PomLife, a neighbourhood business from Ardmona, into the SPC family was a natural addition,” Mr Giles said.

SPC’s new owners Shepparton Partners Collective have ambitious plans for the 103-year-old business, which has been given a timely boost during the coronavirus pandemic with shoppers turning to long-life, canned food in levels not witnessed in decades.

Sales in March were up 100 per cent, and up 40 per cent in April, with baked beans, spaghetti and tinned fruit proving the most popular items.

And the uptick is expected to continue with jobless figures predicted to rise and household spending tighten.

“Economically this is really good value food. When we come out of this lockdown, people will be challenged economically so our canned fruit and food (sales) will continue to be strong,” Mr Giles said.

He said the PomLife purchase was the first of many in the pipeline, and closely follows a deal finalised with infant milk formula maker Wattle Health Australia today to market their products and help fund the construction of a new spray dryer in return for equity in the fledgling business.

“The new owners want this business to be six times what it is now in the next few years …

this is the first of many acquisitions we have in train at the moment, we’ll be making more announcements very shortly,” he told The Weekly Times.

Coca-Cola Amatil sold SPC Ardmona for $40 million last year to Shepparton Partners Collective, joint venture between Sydney private investment Perma Funds Management and The Eights. The sale price was a far cry from the $750 million CCA bought it for in 2005.

In 2014 Victorian taxpayers pumped $22m into the plant, on the basis SPC continued employing at least 500 people at the plant.

Mr Giles is one of only two employees in management who have been kept on by its new owners. The other is Allan Findlay, now chief operating officer.

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