Costa Group
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Costa Group is Australia's largest
horticultural Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
company and a major supplier of produce to food retailers in that country. The company had an
IPO An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
in 2015 and was officially listed on the
Australian Stock Exchange Australian Securities Exchange Ltd or ASX, is an Australian public company that operates Australia's primary securities exchange, the Australian Securities Exchange (sometimes referred to outside of Australia as, or confused within Australia as ...
as Costa Group Holdings Limited on 24 July 2015 with the ticker symbol CGC.


Operations

Costa Group grows most of its produce at its own farms and greenhouses. Divisions include: * Produce: berries, mushrooms, tomatoes, citrus fruit * International: grows proprietary varieties of blueberries for international markets * Costa Farms and Logistics: Responsible for logistics and wholesaling, as well as banana farming and marketing


History

Costa has undergone significant changes and growth since its origins in a family-owned fruit shop that was founded in Geelong, Victoria in 1888. Today, the Costa Group stands as Australia's largest horticultural company with diversified operations across the supply chain from farming and packing to marketing and distribution. While Costa still retains its family roots, the Costa family entered into a strategic partnership with Paine + Partners in 2011 to support further growth and development of Costa. The company floated on the Australian Securities Exchange in July 2015. Since 2011, Costa has been undertaking a strategic transformation program focused on increasing its scale and vertical integration within its portfolio and reinvesting in the business to refresh core assets and fund growth. Expansion initiatives have included the development of the berry and sweet snacking tomato categories organically, the acquisition of Adelaide Mushrooms (a mushroom producer with operations in South Australia and Tasmania) and additions to its citrus footprint through the entry into long-term leases of ex-Timbercorp orchards in 2011. In addition, the formation of the African Blue JV in Morocco in 2007 and the entry in 2014 into a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Driscoll's for the formation of a farming joint venture in China have enabled Costa to grow its international interests. In connection with this strategic transformation program, Costa has exited categories such as leafy vegetables, potatoes and stone fruit, as well as downsized non-core operations including table grapes, bananas and logistics.


See also

*
Frank Costa Frank Aloysius Costa (3 February 1938 – 2 May 2021) was an Australian businessman. Costa had been a prominent figure in the Geelong region for more than four decades after inheriting Costa Group, the family's produce business, in the late 1 ...


References

Horticultural companies of Australia Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange {{horticulture-stub