“McCain is currently consulting with all employees whose roles would be affected by the planned closure.”
Financial performance
The company’s financials highlight the significant pressure facing the New Zealand arm of the business.
Under McCain Food (NZ)’s parent company Weyville Holdings, McCain’s New Zealand operation reported a $16.9m loss in the year to June 30, 2025.
The financial result shows the company’s revenue fell from $325.7m in 2024 to $306.7m in 2025, a drop of $19.9m year-on-year.
While McCain’s cost of sales fell from $301.4m to $296.7m, its administrative and financing costs rose.
Admin costs lifted, from $18.1m to $20.9m, and finance costs rose from $4.2m to $5.8m, although the company benefited from a $6.2m income tax benefit.
It represented the third financial loss for the company over the past five years, including a $2.14m loss in 2024 and a $4.48m loss in 2022.
The company did make two profits over the period, reporting a $3.59m profit in 2023 and a $3.9m profit in 2021.
Borrowing lift
Financial statements show the company significantly increased its borrowings in the last financial year.
The company has received loans from its parent company and related parties since its first reported financial statements dating back to 2003, and has intermittently repaid loans or deferred them to other years.
But between 2024 and 2025, McCain New Zealand’s current unsecured liabilities lifted from $38.4m to $96.8m.
The majority of McCain NZ’s current borrowing comes from a related party, McCain Finance (NZ), with a loan of $76.8m up from $38.4m in the prior financial year.
This loan has 1% interest being charged on it but no fixed repayment terms. No reason was given for the increase in this loan in the company financials.
The other $20m forms part of a loan from its European parent McCain Eurocentre.
The company also has unsecured non-current borrowings of $39.01m, made up of $10,000 in preference shares, which are repayable on demand and hold priority over all ordinary shares for dividends and capital distribution on winding up, and $39m in loans from McCain Eurocentre N.V.
Its total loan from McCain Eurocentre N.V. is $59m, with interest payable at fixed rates of between 2.76% and 7.133%.
McCain’s New Zealand arm paid $5.595m in interest on this loan in 2025, up from $3.928m in 2024.
The accounts show $20m of this loan is due to be repaid on June 4 this year, with a further $20m due on June 3, 2027 and another $19m due on June 6, 2028.
No dividends were declared or paid in the last two financial years. It last paid a dividend of $7m in 2023.
McCain New Zealand has been approached for comment on its results.
Earlier this month, Heinz Watties proposed to discontinue the sale and production of its frozen vegetables and other products, which would lead to 350 roles being impacted nationwide, with 50 at the company’s Hastings plant on King St.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
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