Posted by: Danielle Moore at March 24, 2022
Dicky Bill is one of Australia’s leading suppliers of premium quality baby leaf salads and herbs. All products are grown, harvested, processed, and packed on their farms in Drinan in Queensland and Maffra in Victoria. They pack their products on-site, ensuring they are quick to market and have maximum shelf life.
Dicky Bill stands out in their industry for their ethical and sustainable growing techniques and they have the largest salad growing beds in Australia, managed using state of the art equipment.
From a small operation of 30 acres and 20 staff, the business has now expanded to 1,200 acres and 160 staff in two locations.
Dicky Bill wanted to improve efficiency and increase shelf-life for clients
Dicky Bill pride themselves on using innovation to improve their operation and grow market share, including the use of the latest infrastructure and machinery. An example of which is a drying tunnel that evaporates the moisture, then allows the greens to cool. This creates labour efficiencies and a higher quality product – a significant improvement as traditionally moisture is removed from the greens by a spinner which can cause some bruising of the crop.
In 2021 Dicky Bill purchased a drying/cooling tunnel to drive further growth & product innovation across the organisation. To support these initiatives they completed a sales and lease back against the equipment to further strengthen their capital management program. They approached their current financier – a retail bank – who were unable to complete an appropriate funding outcome.
The Rebus Capital solution
Dicky Bill Director Ryan McLeod had met Tom from Rebus Capital previously, so the two started dialogue on how to best fund a drying/cooling tunnel. Tom initially started discussions with the current financier but, despite communicating regularly and clearly over an extended period of time, he concluded that an alternative solution was needed.
Tom then approached another alternative source of funding. With his understanding of the business, including working with the Dicky Bill team to understand the company financials, he secured finance within just two weeks.
“We didn’t have a primary lender who was open to helping us with difficult leasing arrangements. We asked Tom to help, as we hadn’t had much luck, and Tom said he could do it. He was proactive and had some good ideas – he delivered for us,” says Ryan.
Why Dicky Bill Properties chose Rebus Capital
Dicky Bill regularly buy capital equipment to maintain and grow their operation. Having a trusted and reliable finance partner in Tom at Rebus means they have peace of mind knowing they have someone who understands their business and can step in and assist at any time. Ryan and his team are currently working on a second deal with Tom.
“When doing references, people always ask if you would hire a particular employee again. For us, if someone says yes, this is the biggest endorsement for a person. We feel this way about Tom and we continue to do more work with him. He’s aligned with what we want to do,” says Ryan.
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