Hugo Canning, the former Kraft Heinz subsidiary, has turned the corner in Papua New Guinea under new ownership, led by private investor, Taylor Pacific. It has big plans in the pipeline, General Manager Jeremy Fry tells Business Advantage PNG.

Hugo Canning is aiming for self-sufficiency on the supply side. Credit: Hugo Canning

Hugo Canning found itself in a state of limbo for a number of years after it was put up for sale by its multinational parent company, Kraft Heinz.

The canned goods manufacturer suffered losses between 2021 and 2024 and had no clear direction, as General Manager Jeremy Fry tells Business Advantage PNG.

“When you’re a non-core asset in a global company, no one really cares what’s going on,” he says.

Successful turnaround

Things began to improve in 2024, when Kraft Heinz agreed to sell the company to a group of local Papua New Guinea investors headed by Taylor Pacific (80 per cent shareholding), a private company run by businessman John Taylor, who has decades of experience in PNG. The team brought costs under control, returning the focus of the business to quality and affordability.

“This year, we will definitely turn a profit,” Fry says. “It’s been a good turnaround. We’ve got a very strong board of directors with global experience and they are very supportive of the path we are on.”

Hugo Canning’s key brands are Ox & Palm and Ocean Blue tuna, which Fry says is the number-two tuna brand in the country. The return to profit and the local focus mean that the tuna brand has a great opportunity to align with the government’s objective to increase onshore processing.

“We’re just puzzling through what tuna canning onshore in PNG might look like, but we’re quite excited about it. We think our site in 15-Mile is the perfect place to do it,”’ Fry says.

Local focus, international growth

Part of the profit success has been a strong export market, which began as a play for more foreign exchange, given the forex issues currently faced by business in PNG.

Hugo Canning exports to Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and Japan but has plans to grow this part of the business.

“We want to double our export business this year, because it helps with foreign currency inflow, and it also means we can improve our factory utilisation in Port Moresby,” Fry says.

“There’s a lot of hungry people out there, and our ambition is to be a part of one meal of everyone in the Pacific.”

The plan is not only for tuna but also expanding on the Ox & Palm brand for the next phase of growth.

“There are opportunities everywhere, with the Hugo Canning business and more broadly with the agri-focus of our parent, Taylor Pacific,” Fry says.

The turnaround in Hugo Canning’s fortunes show that Papua New Guinea may be a challenging place to do business, but that if you have a local focus and a knowledgeable local team, it is a place where businesses can thrive.

“If we can be self-sufficient on the supply side, or at a minimum reduce our input costs, we can make our consumer offers more affordable, which is good for the consumer, good for our forex inflows, and good for our factory throughput,” Fry says.

“A great analogy from John [Taylor] is: ‘if you buy a ticket to the dance, you’ve got to dance’.

“With the investment in the Hugo company, and further capital mobilised for our Taylor Pacific agristrategy, we are dancing like we’ve never danced before.”

This article was first published in the annual Business Advantage Papua New Guinea 2025 Edition.