Murray Goulburn’s new managing director and chief executive officer, Ari Mervis, started at the big co-operative last week hitting the ground running prior to MG releasing its much-anticipated half year profit results this Friday.
The former chief executive of Carlton and United Breweries (CUB) replaced Gary Helou who resigned after MG’s controversial farmgate price collapse last year.
Charged with recuperating the company’s business fortunes after its payment backdown and debt blowout, Mr Mervis will earn $1.5 million a year on an ongoing contract with short and long term incentive provisions.
His previous job in the beer sector ended prematurely last year when global beer giant and CUB’s parent company, SABMiller was merged into the world's biggest brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev.
MG chairman, Philip Tracy, said the co-op was “extremely pleased” Mr Mervis was helping the dairy co-op navigate its next chapter.
Mr Tracy also paid tribute to David Mallinson who held the acting CEO’s role during “a challenging period”, thanking him for his professionalism and his efforts to ensure a smooth transition while the company was without a managing director.
Mr Mervis said he was delighted with the opportunity to “lead such an important Australian business” and looked forward to visiting manufacturing sites and meeting as many stakeholders as possible.
Those stakeholders will include farmers and investment groups who bought into MG’s unit trust when it floated in 2015, then got badly burnt as the share price tumbled last year, and are now keen to see what the new boss reports at this week’s profit briefing.