New managing director David Mazengarb said yesterday the company made its final payment to administrators in late January and business was proceeding positively.

Since the growers, who number almost 1000, took control of the company in late October, more than three million spat have been put in the water and many local staff have been re-employed.

Mr Mazengarb said some new staff had been recruited but many of the 21 staff had been given back their old jobs.

"Where possible we have sought to employ those who were with the company before," he said.

He said the response from the Elliston community had been "favourable" but it was one step at a time.

"It takes time for confidence to return, we understand some people have had difficulty but mostly the way the community has responded has been exceptional."

Mr Mazengarb said the next step for ABA was consolidating the business in Elliston.

"A decision was made by the growers that the company needs to be run out of Elliston.

"That the administration of the company needs to be done as close as possible to where the actual farm is, rather than in Adelaide."

Mr Mazengarb said over the past few months there had been intensive work and improvements made at the farm with the new spat introduced during December and early January.

He said existing stock was growing satisfactorily and new stock had settled well into sea cages.

"We've put a lot more stock into cages with a view to restoring the company to levels of the past and providing a solid future."

ABA is Australia's largest offshore abalone producer, and went into voluntary administration last July after the company failed to secure enough funding to cover its costs for the next year, with several factors blamed at the time including deteriorating business conditions and issues surrounding the managed investment scheme industry.