One way to look at it is thet there were 7 senior (expensive)...

One way to look at it is thet there were 7 senior (expensive) people they didnt have to pay a redundancy to, who had massive expenses and oversaw 18M overstatement of accounts in the cattle business.

Elders should see this as an opportunity.

They hopefully had more than 7 staff in the live cattle export business.

The customers are most likely and quite rightly doubting Elders financial position after the recent writedowns - they dont want to pay for cattle and be left high and dry if the company falls into the financial abyss. They probably have contract obligations themselves so it is up to elders to convince the nervous customers they are going to be here in the new year to make good on the contracts.