PGG Wrightson managing director Gould to step down in August

PGG Wrightson managing director George Gould will step down from New Zealand’s biggest rural technology and services firm after helping refocus the company.

Gould previously headed Pyne Gould Guinness and was appointed to the top job at the larger company in February 2011 to help stabilise it as it exited non-core activities. He will leave Aug. 31, the Christchurch-based company said in a statement today.

Wrightson returned to profit in the 2012 financial year after exiting assets it no longer considered part of its core business, the biggest of which was the sale of its finance unit to the emerging Heartland New Zealand bank.

“George has performed his task admirably and whilst the board will be sorry to see him leave, his tenure was for a fixed and relatively short period and for a particular purpose,” chairman Sir John Anderson said.

Shares in Wrightson dropped 6.3 percent to 30 cents, making it the worst performing stock on the New Zealand exchange today.

Wrightson is in the process of selecting a replacement, Anderson said.