Cooks Food Group has only been listed on the NZX for little more than a year, but has already been slapped with a $25,000 fine for the continued delay of its annual report.

The NZ Markets Disciplinary Tribunal found Cooks – which listed on the NZX in October 2008 – guilty of breaching the listing rules by not keeping the market informed during a three-month delay of its annual report.

Cooks Food Group’s brief spell as a listed food company is over, with an announcement this morning that it has sold its assets to Australian company Hutchinsons for $4 million.

Cooks’ brands include Cotterill & Rouse and Murdochs, as well as the much larger, yet-to-be acquired Diamond pasta and DYC vinegar labels.

Hutchinsons will take over the settling of this transaction, and also pay Cooks $4 million for its existing businesses.

The current Hutchinson brand stable includes Trident, Ryvita, Lurpak and Castello.

The only company to list on the stock exchange this year, Cooks Food Group, is recalling four products after they were found to contain listeria.

The Olive Grove and Sahara tahini is sold in supermarkets throughout the country.

There have been no reports of illness so far.

Cooks Food Group says total sales of the products in question represent less than 2% of the aggregate annual sales value for the entire Cooks product range and it is not expected that this recall will have any material financial effect on Cooks.

Newly-listed Cooks Food Group is looking to raise capital for the acquisition of another food-related business.

Cooks, which debuted on the NZAX last week, consists of food businesses Cotterill & Rouse, Murdoch Foods and Sahara Foods.

It gained its place on the exchange via a back-door listing through Tasman Capital, which involved Tasman’s 450-odd shareholders being given a combined 10% of the company’s shares.

Now those shareholders will be offered the chance to increase their stakes via a $5000 “share purchase plan.”