Windhoek
The Meat Corporation of Namibia (Meatco) yesterday announced the resignation of Nico Weck, Group Chief Financial Officer, with effect on November 30.
Adv. Vekuii Rukoro, CEO of Meatco, confirmed the resignation stating that Nico Weck has had an eventful five years with the Group: “Nico joined Meatco in 2010 when our business was experiencing one of its most challenging times. Through hard work, loyalty and commitment he has enormously contributed to the maximisation of returns to Namibian farmers and contributed to our principal objective to maximise producer returns sustainably.”
In addition to his responsibilities with regards to finance, administration and information technology, his focus areas included the marketing of Meatco products regionally and internationally, overseeing the strategic drive of Meatco, as well as adherence to official compliance issues, and the corporation’s regulatory frameworks.
Weck will look to other avenues of his professional career and in the meantime, serve Meatco during his notice period. In terms of his employment contract Weck’s last working day will be February 28, 2016. However, he has requested early release and, amongst others, committed himself to finalising key strategic activities pending during the current financial year.
Weck will be remembered as the quick-thinking financial officer with the razor-sharp ability to analyse international markets and trends in order for Meatco to maximise benefits. In a recent interview he told 1 that Meatco tries to minimise fluctuations in foreign currencies by making use of, inter alia, foreign exchange contracts (FECs).
An FEC is a legally binding agreement with a commercial bank wherein Meatco undertakes to sell a specific amount of foreign currency at a specific future date at a pre-determined fixed exchange rate. However, using an FEC only works in the short-term because of the continued uncertainty of fluctuations. Therefore, this isn’t a long-term solution.
“Since the euro exchange rate has a big influence on the overall sales returns gained for our products, any change in foreign currency affects local producer prices. At the moment we are concerned about the actual returns for B and C grade products. Currently these two grades are overpaid in terms of actual returns from their respective markets.
Accordingly, the producer prices relating to these two grades have been decreased to align them with the current market situation.”
“Meatco strives to pay Namibian producers the highest returns in terms of what their product achieves in our selected markets. And yes, the euro exchange rate definitely plays a significant role,” Weck added.