Rivalry in citrus industry reaches acidic levels

It’s been months of back and forth between the Citrus Growers Association and its subsidiary, the C.P.B.L.  And if you thought you had heard enough, well there was one more briefing today in the citrus saga that reached acidic levels this week.  On Wednesday two officials from Banks Holdings Limited, Sir Allen Fields and Richard Cozier, met with three media houses. Their statements prompted the C.G.A. to respond.  News Five has also been following this story for months and Marion Ali has the update.

Marion Ali, Reporting

The purpose of today’s press conference according to C.G.A. officials was to clarify information that came from Banks Holdings officials on Wednesday.  C.G.A. Chief Executive Officer, Henry Anderson, started off things.

Henry Anderson, CEO, C.G.A.

Henry Anderson

“Yesterday a statement was made that the directors that we want to remove, their tenure will be finished in April and that while all the fuss right now, what we want to clarify is that since July tenth of this year, the C.G.A. has attempted to move these directors from off the Board, but in fact our chance or doing that was blocked. We called for an extraordinary general meeting of the C.P.B.L. board on August twelfth and we put forward an ordinary resolution which required fifty-one percent majority to pass. The Investment Company Limited has fifty-one percent majority in its own right. The secretary to the C.P.B.L. Board changed our resolution without contacting ICL board or anything for that matter and when we got to the meeting, essentially there was a vote that required ninety percent resolution. When the vote was taken at the end of the day, we were blocked from changing our directors so we have that matter in court.”

But the tenures of the directors who C.G.A. want to replace come to an end at the end of April and when asked why not just wait until then to replace them, Vice Chairman of the C.G.A., Charles Woods, explained.

Charles Woods

Charles Woods, Vice Chairman, C.G.A.

“The reason why we need to continue pushing to get our people onboard as soon as possible is everyday that goes by that that doesn’t happen, we believe that those who are there that we have tried to remove are making decisions in the capacity of directors that had we had our appointed directors of choice, would not be making the same decisions. In other words, they are making decisions that are not in the best interest of C.P.B.L. or the citrus industry for that matter. So the longer they remain there, we believe more damage can be done to the company, C.P.B.L., and by extension to the industry and the majority shareholder or all shareholders for that matter.”

So is the C.G.A.’s intention to oust the three directors a personal move?  Anderson says absolutely not and that the dispute is having a negative impact on the industry.

Charles Woods

“This is certainly affecting the industry without a doubt. It’s questioning investor confidence. Banks, they are not the only investors, there are other investors in this industry. Growers are investors in the industry because they clear acreages down to put new plants and so on, fertilize etcetera. So anybody thinking about putting money into the citrus industry when all this is going on more than likely will have second thoughts. Our production in the industry is way down; we should be around ten million boxes. We are not nearly there. Our factory way under-utilized; we have lots of excess capacity. So the longer it takes people to invest in the industry, whether it’s an investor or a grower, the outlook is for the industry and this dispute is letting people have second thoughts about putting money in the industry. It needs to be resolved, I want it resolved, C.G.A. wants it resolved, the growers want it resolved.”

Henry Anderson

“It appears to be a personal issue because of the way the CEO of C.P.B.L. is leveraged in this industry. But the position of C.G.A., as Mr. Woods has said and I have said is very clear; from the Committee of Five everybody agreed that C.G.A. has the right to appoint its five. What the CEO of C.P.B.L., who was the chief architect of this agreement, who knew full well that his contract was in conflict with this agreement and the Committee of Five highlighted that and yet he did nothing at that time to say to give me more money or to work it out at that time or to say gentlemen stop, I will not be the CEO if this thing isn’t fixed. He did none of those things. What he did when ICL as the majority shareholder used its right, was to go to court to get an injunction to block C.P.B.L. from having the shareholders meeting.”

Woods says that because of the effect of the protracted dispute, the state-of-the-art C.P.B.L. factory is not being utilized to its fullest capacity but that is expected to turn around with a new Board. Marion Ali for News Five.