News

We are pleased to announce that at the end of this month, a series of acquisitions will take place on the same day. Firstly, a new company jointly owned by Hill Labs and Sam Brooks will acquire the Canterbury-based sister companies ‘Food and Health Standards’ (FHS) and ‘Auditing Solutions’ (AS) from Ian and Gail Shaw. FHS and AS provide Environmental Health Officer services, food safety auditing services, and municipal water sample collection services to a range of customers within and beyond Canterbury. Secondly, the water operations within FHS, led by Lisa Shaw, will be carved out and moved into Hill Labs, while maintaining a close relationship with FHS.

This, our first Hill News for 2025, has a couple of headline articles that I want to highlight. The first relates to a series of acquisitions that will be completed essentially simultaneously at the end of this month. There is some complexity in the deals that we are doing, but essentially there will be two main outcomes – increased capability within Hill Labs, and a partnership we will be entering into via a separate company.

Due to the continuing growth and ever-evolving complexity of our multi-faceted business, late last year we established a new role in the company – Chief Operating Officer – and ran a rigorous recruitment process to fill it. We are pleased to announce that Peter Lord emerged as our preferred candidate and will be starting with us on March 3rd.

Our latest innovation helps our clients to streamline their environmental monitoring programs by utilising both Tempo and PCR technology to test up to three organisms (four results), using just one swab. This advancement not only simplifies sampling by reducing samplers’ time and effort, it also reduces the use of single-use plastics, supporting both operational efficiency and environmental sustainability. 

We are dedicated to finding sustainable solutions that benefit both the environment and our valued clients. In line with this commitment, we are pleased to announce our transition from chilltainers to multi-use cardboard cartons. These cartons are used for our pre-made kits including the Routine Water & E.coli, Food Safety, NZ GAP kits, and more. 

The New Zealand Soil Science Society conference was held in Rotorua in December 2024 and Erin McIlmurray, our Market Sector Manager - Agriculture, attended for the first time. She took away some new learnings and discovered some valuable insights.