Plum Grove

About Plum Grove

Plum Grove Pty Ltd (“Plum Grove”) is two companies spanning two Australian states and operating in all Australian grain markets.

The first company is Plum Grove which operates the cash book for Plum Grove in both South Australia and Western Australia. Plum Grove also holds Wheat Exports Australia accreditation as a bulk exporter of Australian wheat.

AGG Plum Grove Pty Ltd (“AGG Plum Grove”) is a wholly owned subsidiary of Plum Grove and is responsible for managing the AGG Harvest Pool in South Australia. This wholly owned subsidiary was created to give a sense of separation between the cash and pool business units.

Governance

Since its inception Plum Grove has been a business at the forefront of corporate governance best practice. Over the last two years, this process has accelerated with our new international partners requiring high levels of international standard reporting including as required by the Securities and Exchange Commission in the United States.


Plum Grove is a company with the benefit of local and international shareholders and business partners.

2010 we were excited to announce that two international partners with consumptive demand for Australian wheat – Seaboard Corporation and Salim Group had taken a strategic stake in Plum Grove.

As a result the new Board of Plum Grove consists of an exciting mix of Australian and International representatives with significant experience in global grain marketing and processing.

Plum Grove Board

Mr Greg Hunt - Chairman and Independent Non Executive Director   

Mr Dave Dannov - Independent Non Executive Director

Ms Gail Cummings - Independent Non Executive Director   

Mr Andi Soliamon - Independent Non Executive Director   

Mr Susanto Sentausa - Independent Non Executive Director

Mr Tony Smith - Executive Director

Mr Andrew Young - Managing Director

More information can be found under the Partners page.

Our Staff

Operational StaffAndrew Young, Ashley Bacon, Eric Tomlinson, Fred Guimbeau

Andrew Young, Managing Director
B. Arts, GICD

Andrew has over 15 years experience in senior management roles in the Australian grains industry, covering international grain trading, corporate strategy and mergers and acquisitions. Andrew previously held roles including General Manager Strategy and Business Development at the CBH Group, General Manager of AgraCorp and Managing Director Agribusiness for Melbourne-based financial group Austock.

Andrew in his capacity as Managing Director will be responsible for corporate strategy and governance.

Ashley Bacon, Operations Manager
B.Sc. (Agric) Hons, MBA

Ashley joined Plum Grove in 2007 after working for 11 years in Agricultural Research.  At Plum Grove, his role is multi-faceted with responsibility for coordinating the company’s Information Technology, Human Resources, AFSL Compliance and General Operations.

Eric Tomlinson, Company Accountant

BSc(Hons), ACA

A graduate chartered accountant with experience in WA agribusiness services since 1998.  Formerly worked in public practice in both Australia and England.

 

Fred Guimbeau, General Manager
B.Com (Banking and Finance), Grad Dip App Fin

Fred was appointed to the position of General Manager in February 2009. Fred joined Plum Grove from the funds management industry and had previously held roles with AgraCorp, part of the CBH Group.

 

Sue Batchelor, Executive Assistant & Office Manager (not present)

Sue joined Plum Grove in April 2007 as Personal Assistant to the Directors.  Sue migrated from the UK in 2004 and has held PA positions in both countries, her role in the company has expanded to executive assistant and office manager resonsbilities as Plum Grove has grown and developed.

Pool, Trading and Logistics TeamShiela Gould, Ben Gliddon, David Pritchard, Rob Kelly, Tony Smith

Shiela Gould, Contracts &  Grower Services Administrator

Shiela, the newest addition to the Plum Grove family joined in May 2011.Her experience, primarily in export and bulk shipping execution comes from working with the CBH Group for 5 years.


Tyson Fry, Grains Analyst (absent)
B.Sc (Agric Econ) 2A Hons

Tyson joined Plum Grove as a graduate grains analyst in November 2011. Tyson will gain experience working in both the cash and pools side of the business.


David Pritchard, Logistics Manager

David joined Plum Grove in December 2009 as Logistics Manager to coincide with the companies expansion into bulk wheat export. 

David brings with him over 8 years of operational and logistics management experience from previous roles with Premium Grain Handlers and Riverina (Australia).


Rob Kelly, Pool & Commodity Trader
B.Sc (Agric) 2A Hons

Rob joined Plum Grove in 2005 as a Commodity Analyst. Rob is now part of the pool management team and specialises in market analysis, trading and derivative position reporting.


Tony Smith, Pool Manager & Senior Commodity Trader,
Director B.Sc (Agric) 2A Hons

Tony is one of the most experienced and innovative pool managers in Australia today. Tony, a founder of Plum Grove, brought a genuine and secure alternative to the wheat pools market in 2004 when the first Professional Choice pool products were launched together with Grain Pool (formerly AgraCorp).


 Tony is responsible for managing the Plum Grove Harvest Pool, a joint manager of the ProtectionPlus and Managed Pools, and is also a director of Plum Grove.




Plum Grove was started in July 2003. The Plum Grove initiative was based around founding director's experiences developing and trading products for Australia’s single desk operater AWB Ltd, and experience's in the financial services industry.

At its outset, Plum Grove was based on a vision of bringing both risk management and transparency within the financial services industry to the Australian grains industry. This vision saw the development of innovative pools which were run in conjunction wit. In addition to this they also developed DailyGrain, the most popular and innovative price discovery service in WA. This has now been spun off into an independently managed business which is 50% owned by the CBH group.

Since its inception, Plum Grove has now grown from 2 people and a small office, to one of WA’s most respected pool managers. Plum Grove now has a team of people who are continuing to build around Plum Grove’s core foundations of professionalism, innovation and reliability. Plum Grove believes that they will continue to grow into the future as they work directly with grower across the state to develop new and exciting products that are for the benefit of all.

In 2010, Plum Grove took the exciting step of forming strategic partnerships with two international partners, read more about that here


Origins of the name 'Plum Grove'

One of the strengths of Plum Grove is their close relationship with Australian wheat growers. This relationship stems back to its founding directors and their country upbringing. Tony was born and raised on a mixed farming property just north of Goomalling in the central wheat belt. Tony’s family farm was part of long generation of family farms in the area. The property in which Tony grew up bordered the farm in which his father was raised and along which was a local landmark known as “Plum Grove”. Although the original origins of the name of Plum Grove cannot be verified (all the locals seem to have a different story), it was this connection with WA family farms that the founders wanted to bring with them into the business.