Yes, I think poor management, had something to do with Yates. ?
From memory, they had a manager that decided to automate a lot of the warehouse, process and it all went South.
From the article:
Prime Minister John Howard's brother just managed to be re-elected to the board of Arthur Yates yesterday, as shareholders heckled the embattled garden group's directors.
Mr Howard, 70, said he would normally have retired as a director – a position he has held since Yates' listing in 1993 – but felt a duty to ``stay with the ship while we endeavour to turn it around''.
Mr Howard, who presided over the AGM despite still recovering from a hip operation, refused to respond to what he called an ``attack'' on his track record with companies by shareholder activist Stephen Mayne.
Only three of the more than 120 shareholders at the Yates AGM voted in favour of Mr Howard's re-election, but he survived on the basis of proxy votes.
Yates shares fell to a new all-time low of 24c yesterday before closing 4.5c weaker at 25c – a far cry from 98c last December.
Arthur Yates & Co Limited, by far the biggest name in the growth industry of gardening products, has been a disappointment since the shares were sold to the public in a prospectus issue in 1993.
ONE of the best-known names in Australian gardening, the Arthur Yates & Co seed and fertiliser business, is to be sold to overseas interests as Industrial Equity Ltd continues its asset divestment programme.