cer group LIMITED
CERTIFIED ORGANICS LIMITED CHANGES NAME TO CER GROUP LIMITED
NEW POSITIONING REFLECTS DEVELOPMENTS IN COMPANY’S UNDERLYING BUSINESS
Statement made by David Warrick, Managing Director, CER Group Limited
Certified Organics Limited (Certified Organics) has announced today at its Annual General Meeting that it has changed
its trading name to CER Group Ltd (CER Group). The stock exchange code will remain CER.
CER Group represents the corporate centre of the company, which operates two distinct business streams:
- the Interceptor range of weed killing products; and,
- New Zealand Nature, an e-commerce and catalogue retailing and direct marketing company.
With the acquisition of New Zealand Nature Company (NZ Nature) in August 2005 and changing market opportunities for the
Interceptor™ range, the directors of Certified Organics identified that the existing holding company name no longer
reflected the fundamentals of the business.
The decision also followed a review of the value and connotations of the term “certified organics”. Recent experience
shows that the commercial agricultural and government biohazard markets where the Interceptor range has found success
places little value of the “organic” nature of the product.
In addition, the Certified Organics name did not provide a suitable umbrella for the NZ Nature business. Going forward
the directors felt the continued use of Certified Organics would not assist stakeholders, such as investors and business
partners, to have a full understanding of our diversity.
CER Group provides a new vehicle with which to continue the growth of the business, which has enjoyed excellent results
over the last 12 months. The combination of success for Interceptor in Australia and its potential in other global
markets, and the contribution of revenues from NZ Nature since acquisition, are encouraging for shareholders. They also
illustrate the benefits of changes made to the Certified Organics’ business in the last 18 months, including the
appointment of new directors and the implementation of a new marketing strategy.
It was also announced at the AGM that CER Group expects to post its first annual profit this year. This announcement
takes into account the implementation of new International Financial Reporting standards, which eliminate the
requirement to amortise goodwill and, therefore, allow CER Group to declare “clean” results.
ENDS