WasteCo focuses on rebuilding confidence after shares slump, workers killed

WasteCo is focused on rebuilding shareholder and other stakeholder confidence in the company, after its share price slumped to a low of half a cent ($0.005), earlier this month.

The waste management company had a market value of $25.2 million when it listed on the NZX in 2023 at 5 cents a share, but the price had been trending down since March 2025, but slumped to a low of $5.5m.

Shareholders Association (NZSA) chief executive Oliver Mander said there was a long list of concerns about the outlook for WasteCo, including the need for greater transparency, board independence, a clear path to profitability, as well as its plans to address health and safety issues following the deaths of two workers on the job in the past year.

The outlook

Board chair and interim chief executive Roger Gower said the company was on path to profitability, and working to improve the operational performance of the company, particularly around health and safety.

“We’re also focused on making sure that we’re doing profitable work, not unprofitable work, and so that’s taking a while to work its way through the process,” he said.

“The external environment is not flash, and particularly in construction and … that has been a big piece of our business in the past and that’s an area where it’s been difficult to make money.”

However, Gower said the company was continuing to grow the business and was able to fund the business’ reset from the cashflow generated by the business, with revenue growth of nearly 25 percent to more than $70m in the year ended March.

“We’ll finalise a new contract with a new customer shortly. That’s pretty exciting for us.”

Senior executive and board member issues

Mander said there were also concerns about the company’s board and senior executive.

“What you’ve seen is a plethora of directors leave from the company over the past couple of years, and it does sheet home that there is health and safety liability that applies to directors,” Mander said.

While NZX companies must have a majority of independent directors on the board, WasteCo currently had just two independent directors and three non-independent directors, including Gower.

Gower said his status was changed from independent chair after he took on the role of interim chief executive. But he said the independent status would be reinstated once a chief executive was appointed to replace David Peterson who resigned a year ago, after just 15 months in the job.

Gower said the resignations of the three founders of WasteCo from senior executive roles and the board, had also been unhelpful.

Director and former chief executive James Redmayne resigned 25 May, Shane Edmond on 28 February and Carl Storm on 16 August 2024.

“We did expect the founders to stay on. They had built a business, which we expected them to want to continue to grow as a public listing. They’ve left the board, that was their decisions. I can’t comment on that, apart from just noting it,” Gower said.

Concerns were also raised about Gower’s time commitment, as he sat on other boards, and was also the chief executive of another company.

“I’m devoting more time than I’d perhaps planned (to WasteCo), however, it’s within my capability and capacity,” Gower said.

“We are looking to replace myself as interim CEO. It’s taken longer than I’d anticipated.

“We want to get a high-quality, high-performing chief executive to take over and run WasteCo.”

Health and safety concerns

“The deaths of WasteCo employees Lynda Kelly in Te Anau in 2025 and Paul Cruse in Cardrona earlier this year (19 March) had a profound impact on the company and our people,” Gower said in the FY26 report, issued 29 May.

The company announced on 4 May it had been charged by WorkSafe following an investigation into Kelly’s death, but WasteCo did not flag the notice to the market as being potentially material to its financial position.

Gower said the company took advice from its legal team and auditors in determining the costs weren’t material.

Still the costs to address health and safety issues arising in the year ended March were cited as contributing to a net loss of $12.4m in FY26.

The company also spent $1.75m to address workplace health and safety concerns in FY26, which was more than twice the $810,000 it allocated the year earlier.

Gower said the allocated funds were expected to cover its defence.

To appear in court next week

WorkSafe confirmed in a statement to RNZ that WasteCo was to appear in the Invercargill District Court on 16 June to face charges in relation to the death of Kelly, which carried a maximum fine of $1.5m.

Gower said he was yet to see the detail of the charges against the firm.

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