02 July 2018

Steamships Trading Company Limited (Steamships) announces that it has entered into an agreement to sell its 100% owned subsidiary Laga Industries Limited to Paradise Company Limited. Laga Industries is a local consumer foods business and the manufacturer and distributor of iconic PNG brands including Gala Ice Cream and Highland Meadows Cooking Oil, plus a wide range of locally produced condiments, powdered drinks, snacks and beverages. Peter Langslow, Managing Director of Steamships, said “Laga has been a part of the Steamships family since 2005. In that time we’ve invested heavily in manufacturing equipment and in the development of the Laga team, to ensure that the company has gone from strength to strength. In 2015 the company commissioned a state of the art ice cream plant which remains the largest and most modern in the South Pacific (outside Australia & New Zealand). While there is a note of sadness in saying goodbye, I am confident that the Laga business will benefit greatly from becoming part of a larger and more focussed consumer foods business in Paradise Company.” Steamships is a committed investor in Papua New Guinea and celebrates the centenary of its founding in 2018. The group is a well-established business conglomerate with diverse commercial interests and listings on both the Australian and Port Moresby Stock Exchanges.

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