Buyers rescue Nosh, eye growth

A consortium of New Zealand investors who do not want to be named have bought troubled gourmet supermarket brand Nosh for $4 million.

For now, it would be regular service for shoppers, and there were plans to expand the ‘‘great’’ brand within the country and overseas.

Veritas Investments, the listed company which owns Nosh, said yesterday it would sell Nosh to a company called Gosh Holding, and use the money to repay debt to ANZ.

Companies Office records show Gosh Holding was incorporated yesterday and its sole shareholder was Sydney-based Andrew Phillips.

Phillips, a New Zealand corporate finance specialist who has been based in Australia for 15 years, helped a consortium of New Zealand investors buy Nosh.

He would not identify the ‘‘two or three people’’ behind the purchase, but said they were involved with consumer products in New Zealand. The group thought Nosh was a ‘‘great brand’’ and believed there was an opportunity to develop it and the chain.

Phillips, the new Nosh chairman, said his Australian base was a hint as to what the future might hold for the business.

In New Zealand there would be an internal restructure but no change for customers, with all stores remaining open for business.

‘‘We’ll grow the brand there and then assess our options,’’ Phillips said.

He said the company and its overhead costs needed to be looked at, but would not comment on any possible job losses.

‘‘We see this as a good opportunity. There will be more stores, certainly.’’

Phillips was confident it could turn Nosh around, and said private ownership would prove a better fit than being publicly listed. Nosh made a loss of $1.9m last year, and Veritas had been working to franchise Nosh stores.

The new owner agreed to take on Nosh’s creditor liabilities as part of the transaction.

The supermarket’s sale comes after ANZ’S deadline for a proposal on the future of Nosh was pushed back for a second time on Tuesday.

In December, Veritas had said it had until January 16 to provide ANZ with an unconditional contract for the sale of Nosh, or with a proposal to wind it down.

If it failed to find a buyer Veritas, which also owned the Mad Butcher franchise, had to wind down Nosh by the end of March.

Before the first deadline passed in January, one of the franchised stores in Auckland appeared to split from Nosh.

The store on Constellation Drive had removed its Nosh signage and appeared to be attempting to remove all references to the brand.

Veritas said last month the franchisee had indicated it intended to operate independently of the Nosh brand and terminated its franchise agreement.

No further information on the dispute was given yesterday.

Veritas shares rose 60 per cent to 24 cents a share yesterday.