News release
26 August 2005

Comvita appoints new CEO with sights firmly on further international growth

Natural health food company Comvita Limited today announced the appointment of a new chief executive with extensive international business development experience.

Mr Brett Hewlett, of Tauranga, will take up the role from September 19.

Comvita chairman Bill Bracks says the company is on a strong international growth path, and Mr Hewlett has the skill set to help achieve further significant expansion abroad.

In its last financial half-year, exports made up 60% of Comvita’s sales, which grew 30% in New Zealand dollar terms during that period.

Mr Hewlett has spent 15 years of his 20 year-career overseas with the global food processing and food packaging solutions provider Tetra Pak. As one of its top 150 executives worldwide, he led the 1988 start-up of a company developing Tetra Pak’s eastern Mediteranean markets (Lebanon, Syria, Jordon, Iraq and Palestine), building a team of 35 staff and significant revenues by 2002.

Mr Hewlett earlier held technical director and area general manager roles with Tetra Pak. For four years he was a project manager with Alfa Laval UK Limited (later acquired by Tetra Pak), leading teams to build new dairy and food processing plants. Mr. Hewlett returned to New Zealand with his family in 2004 and started a business mentoring service.

Mr Bracks says Comvita has been taking control of its own marketing overseas and under current CEO Graeme Boyd, who has had the role since 1998, has made significant gains in key markets, including the UK, Australia, Taiwan and Japan.

Comvita’s principal export growth strategy is to change from being an ‘exporter’ to an ‘international marketer’ of natural health products and health solutions, Mr Bracks says.

“Future plans include an office in the UK which will also become the base for expanding into Europe, and to grow new business in the United States where significant opportunities exist in the Medical Honey products market. The new CEO has the skills to help make those happen.”

Comvita has more than 90 staff in New Zealand and a further 10 offshore in subsidiaries in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and most recently Taiwan. It uses contract manufacturers throughout New Zealand to boost its in-house capability. This month it was named food and beverage Exporter of the Year.

Ends

For further information please contact
Mr Bill Bracks
Chairman, Comvita Limited
Telephone:  +64 7 573 7000, 021 386 974

Brett Hewlett, CEO designate, Comvita Limited
Telephone: +67 (7) 574 0005, 021 740 160

Natural products success story

August 12, 2005

Comvita Ltd, a Te Puke company that’s created a multi-million dollar business based on natural bee products, has won the 2005 Food and Beverage Exporter of the Year Award.

A fast-growing publicly listed company, Comvita increased annual export earnings by 47% in 2004 to $14.6 million, its success fuelled by an ambitious expansion plan that has seen it diversify beyond its traditional bee products and embark on an internationalisation strategy.

Comvita beat off tough competition from premium vodka producer 42 BELOW, New Zealand King Salmon Company and Nobilo Wine Group Ltd to take top honours in the food and beverage category at the 2005 New Zealand Trade and Enterprise Export Awards, presented in Christchurch on 11 August.

Food and beverage was one of eight sector based export awards presented at the gala dinner. The ultimate accolade, the 2005 DHL Supreme Exporter of the Year Award, was won by Auckland technology innovator Rakon Ltd which also won the ICT Exporter of the Year.

NZTE CEO Tim Gibson said the outstanding achievements of Comvita and the other Export Award winners on the world stage should make all New Zealanders proud, adding that they were deserving of the same adulation as our sports’ heroes.

The Export Awards’ judges said the Bay of Plenty enterprise had successfully established Comvita as a premium brand internationally.

“Comvita has focused on developed a strong brand and has fought hard to win business in the very competitive natural products market. A strong market strategy implemented over the past few years has seen the company mature and move to take greater direct control of the distribution and marketing of its products.”

CEO Graeme Boyd joined Comvita in 1998 and was charged with taking the firm to a new level of sophistication and growth, building on what had been achieved by the two original shareholders, one of whom had started the business in his shed in the 1970s.

Under his tutelage Comvita has grown from being a small private entity with two shareholders to one where it has more than 700 shareholders, is publicly listed, with annual sales of nearly $30 million. Most importantly, says Mr Boyd, the business is very profitable.

“We’ve been enjoying in excess of 20% compound growth per annum in sales and are looking at a similar sort of growth profile in future. Exports will remain a strong driver of that growth. About 50% of sales are from direct exports and a further 25% from Asians living in New Zealand and tourists.

“We are the only New Zealand company specialising in adding value to the whole range of apiculture by-products. We are also investing in R&D to expand into new premium healthcare products. These aren’t just variants of our existing bee based products, but using entirely new bulk ingredients, such as colostrum and grapeseed extract which we’re currently developing into an immune boosting product.”

An in-house naturopath assists with product development. Comvita is also using company and technology acquisition to accelerate its product development capability.

Comvita products are tailored for two distinct markets – Asians (which includes Asians living in New Zealand) and western. A product may offer the same end-benefits, but it’s formulated, packaged and marketed according to the market.

A strategy to take the company from being an exporter to an international marketer of natural health products and health solutions is seeing Comvita take direct control of the price, positioning and promotion of its products in export markets.

“The internationalisation strategy is enabling us to take control of our own destiny,” says Mr Boyd. “We are progressively replacing distribution agents with our own subsidiaries or joint ventures to get closer to our consumers. We started in Australia by taking our own marketing decisions and were so impressed by the success of that we decided to extend the strategy into Asia.”

Future plans include establishing an office in UK within the next few years, which will be the base for Comvita’s expansion into Europe. It’s also planning to grow its business in the USA.

Mr Boyd says the Comvita brand is a valuable asset, providing competitive advantage through its association with pure, high quality natural health products. The New Zealand origin of the products is another strength.

“New Zealand’s international clean, green image and unique natural resources such as manuka honey with exceptional antibacterial qualities provide us with a competitive advantage and is something that we highlight in our branding.”

Comvita has more than 90 staff in New Zealand and a further ten offshore in subsidiaries in Japan, Hong Kong, Australia and most recently Taiwan. It uses contract manufacturers throughout New Zealand to boost its in-house capability.

NZTE CEO Tim Gibson said export success was critical to lifting the standard of living for all New Zealanders and other companies should look to the 2005 Export Award winners and benchmark their activities on them. He thanked DHL, the major sponsor of the Export Awards and a long time partner of the event.

DHL Express General Manager, Phil Rountree, said DHL has a long and very proud tradition in helping acknowledge the ‘best of the best’ when it comes to exporting.

"We would like to congratulate the 2005 Export Awards winners for their outstanding successes which have benefited not only their organisations, but also the export industry in its entirety. With six of the eight winners this year also being DHL customers, we are especially pleased to recognise those organisations whose achievements we have witnessed first hand."
ENDS

Ancient Healer Effective in Treating Infected Skin Lesions

Jem Bonnievale was 15 when he contracted meningococcal septicemia caused by an infection of Neisseria meningitidis. By the time the British teenager reached the hospital, he had multiple purple batches on his legs and fingers, which rapidly progressed to tissue death.

Both legs were amputated below the knee as well as fingers on both hands. He endured multiple skin grafts and suffered for months with non-healing infected sores. His case was extreme and difficult to treat because of the severe pain it caused. "I can't even begin to explain how painful it was just to have a small piece of dressing changed.

The nurses tried everything to make it easier, like changing the dressing in the bath, but it was agony," said Jem. Over the next six months the success of the grafts was variable and the sores showed heavy growth of Pseudomonas and Staphlococcus aureus. All traditional treatments were tried without success.

When nothing else had any effect on the chronic infected sores, clinical nurse Cheryl Dunford and her colleagues turned to honey. Dressing pads impregnated with sterilized active manuka honey from New Zealand were applied to one leg and a traditional dressing to the other leg. Within a few days, the honey dressed leg showed a reduction of wound bacteria. Both legs were then treated with the honey dressings. Within 10 weeks, all lesions were healed. Jem was released from the hospital, fitted with artificial legs and is getting on with his life.

The use of honey as medicine is mentioned in the most ancient written records. Today scientists and doctors are rediscovering the effectiveness of honey as a wound treatment. Peter Molan, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemisty at Waikato University, New Zealand has been on the forefront of honey research for 20 years. He heads the university's Honey Research Unit, which is internationally recognized for its expertise in the antimicrobial properties of honey. Clinical observations and experimental studies have established that honey has effective antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It painlessly removes pus, scabs and dead tissue from wounds and stimulates new tissue growth. "Randomized trials have shown that honey is more effective in controlling infection in burn wounds than silver sulphadiazine, the antibacterial ointment most widely used on burns in hospitals" says Dr. Molan. The significance of the case of the British teenager, as reported in the June issue of Nursing Times, is that it is the first case in which honey was used on multiple meningococcal skin lesions. The antibacterial action was evident as the mixed infection of Pseudomonas and Enterococcus cleared from the lesions in a few weeks and the number of colonizing staphylococci diminished to a harmless level.

Dr. Molan believes that if honey were used from the start in cases of meningococcal septicemia, there would be far less tissue damage resulting. "The remarkable ability of honey to reduce inflammation and mop up free radicals should halt the progress of the skin damage like it does in burns, as well as protecting from infection setting in," said Dr. Molan. "At present, people are turning to honey when nothing else works. But there are very good grounds for using honey as a therapeutic agent of first choice."

Researchers believe that the therapeutic potential of honey is grossly underutilized. It is widely available in most communities and although the mechanism of action of several of its properties remains obscure and needs further investigation, the time has now come for conventional medicine to look at this traditional remedy. With increasing interest in the use of alternative therapies and as the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria spreads, honey may finally receive its due recognition as a wound healer.

© National Honey Board August 2005

URL: http://www.nhb.org