Eight of the nine senior commercial employees who left the company, including the financial director and the group marketing director, have joined an opposition company based in Polokwane.

“For example, we have successfully negotiated a significant investment from the Farmsecure Group, which will acquire shareholding in the Colors Group (subject to the requisite regulatory approval).

“This investment heralds a positive new direction for Colors, as Farmsecure is considered a leader in the agricultural sector.

“The company, which has a primary focus on empowering farmers through the provision of precision farming skills, agricultural knowledge and technologies, will definitely strengthen the Colors operation going forward.”

Farmsecure CEO and founder, Jerome Yazbek, said, “We are excited about our partnership with the Colors Group, a company which for the past 13 years has become, by sales, the largest privately-owned agri-business in the fruit sector and South Africa’s second largest exporter of fruit.

“Our investment in Colors will take us one step closer to fulfilling our global vision of sustainable, profitable farming in the fruit industry.”

Riaan van Wyk, also a major shareholder of the Colors Group, will once again take full responsibility for international marketing.

Johan Basson, a former partner of PWC for 30 years where he was responsible for corporate finance-related work, will be Group Head of Finance.

Says Carstens: “The restructuring of Colors should be seen as a natural development of a dynamic company operating in the ever-changing fruit industry.

“We want to assure our producers and our customers that it is very much ‘business as usual’ at Colors and that the current senior team will use the changes as an opportunity to reinforce our corporate promise of ‘new thinking, new solutions.”