Mr Alloway will remain on the Board of Allied Farmers and its subsidiaries in the meantime. Mr Alloway has given notice to the Board to allow a timely search for a new chief executive and a measured handover of the business.

Mr Alloway said “the time was right to step down from the hands-on, day-today role of running the business as the restructuring process which began about a year ago was nearing completion.”

The board acknowledged Mr Alloway’s strong and insightful leadership during a period of tremendous change, and said that whilst they were disappointed Mr Alloway was changing his role from an executive, his ongoing involvement as a director means Mr Alloway will continue to contribute to the company.

“With the restructuring process now coming to an end, and several asset realisations likely in the short term, the company will be in a different position in December when I step down,” said Mr Alloway.

“My key goal was to establish a more stable financial platform and normalise the company’s banking and other commercial arrangements.” Mr Alloway said that “we are expecting this process will be completed in the next few weeks leaving the business with substantially reduced senior debt and feel it is right to now give the Board time to identify a new CEO to take the company forward after a challenging period.”

Mr Alloway said staff, suppliers and shareholders had been very patient and that patience and loyalty had given the Board and management the time they needed to navigate through a difficult process.

“We’ve had to make some very tough decisions along the way but we are now close to reaching the stable ground we need to rebuild what I still believe will be a very sound and respected rural services business.”