quote:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,3044621a13,00.html

Turners and Growers to list
25 September 2004
By KAREN CHAN and SUE ALLEN

Turners and Growers has announced it will list on the stock market next week, but has surprised observers by staying silent over the question of a share offering.


It had been speculated that the company would raise up to $100 million in a share issue or selloff at the time of listing.

The move to list would give more than 900 existing Turners and Growers shareholders the chance to trade shares more easily on a more sophisticated market than at present, chairman Tony Gibbs said.

Turners and Growers shares had been traded on the NZX unlisted trading facility, but its closure in June has driven the company to seek a full listing.

Mr Gibbs, who is overseas, did not specifically refer to the market's previous expectation that the company would make a public share offering on listing, but said in the listing document that doing so would "enable the company to more efficiently access the capital markets in the future should it wish".

Turners and Growers forecast net profit after tax would drop by nearly 27 per cent to $8.6 million in the year to December 2004 as revenue slipped 5.8 per cent to $564.7 million.

The company said it had assumed projected revenue and profit to December 2004 would be adversely affected by foreign exchange trends, a small drop in pipfruit volumes and weaker prices compared with 2003.

In the listing document, Mr Gibbs confirmed it would go ahead with plans to separate off its juice manufacturing arm, Enzafoods.