Spring Gully Foods wipes $1m debt

Spring Gully Foods has made its first dividend payment - 20 cents in the dollar - to unsecured creditors. The payment wipes $1 million off the company’s total debts and is the largest single payment the company will make to unsecured creditors under the terms of the Deed of Company Arrangement (DoCA) it signed on 1 July.

Further payments of eight cents in the dollar will be made every quarter until creditors have been fully repaid.

“Since we signed the DOCA on July 1, we have been working incredibly hard to restructure the company and rationalise our operations, both to repay our creditors and to ensure we never slip back into the position in which we found ourselves earlier this year,” said Spring Gully Managing Director Kevin Webb.

The company has made extensive changes to drive down manufacturing costs by improving the efficiency of the plant, Webb said.

“This has had a significant impact on our bottom line, which, combined with increased sales thanks to the public’s ongoing support, has enabled us to work our way into a much stronger position,” said Webb.

“We have also been reviewing our product mix and marketing and plan to expand our range to make it more relevant to modern consumers.”

The company will introduce new products in coming months to complement its existing range.

Spring Gully has also appointed a new operations manager to oversee production. Andrew Byles, formerly of Accolade Wines, is responsible for coordinating and managing production scheduling in the new position.