Ceres Organics

Ceres Enterprises Ltd is one of the two largest wholesale organic distributors in New Zealand as well as being one of our longest standing customers. Prometheus has made a number of working capital loans to Ceres as they have grown over the past 20 years but the latest phase of their development was the most significant to date.

The previous five years had seen a substantial growth in sales of Ceres' wide range of organic grocery items as they made steady inroads into mainstream supermarkets. This was a challenging market for Ceres to enter, both because of the margin pressure it brought and the requirements around ordering systems and supply response.

This growth created a need for higher stocking and staffing levels and had put intense pressure on both warehousing and office space over recent years. Ceres' management had a difficult time finding satisfactory alternative premises as they wished to meet the needs of the expanding business and find a site with a similar exterior greenspace for staff breaks as they had enjoyed at their previous location.

An ideal venue was finally located and the move arranged, with all the attendant logistics of moving such a large operation smoothly onto an operational footing in a new location.

Prometheus provided a loan to help with the relocation and to assist with the build up in stock levels needed. We also provided additional finance for a substantial IT upgrade so that ordering and delivery systems could be streamlined and better managed with the existing level of staff.

We were very pleased to be able to support Ceres in expanding their organic and value-based business.