SANTA PAULA, CA - Despite difficulties in the way of power outages related to the recent California fires and market fluctuation, Limoneira is looking to end 2019 on a positive note financially with a new milestone and plans for growth in place.
“As we enter fiscal year 2020, our grower retention is very strong, and we expect to increase our lemon market share again in fiscal year 2020. We are very well positioned for a return to solid growth and improved profitability and expect improved contributions from lemons, oranges, and avocados in this coming year,” Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated.
EBITDA for fiscal year 2019 is expected to be in the range of $2.5 million to $3.0 million according to the financial report, while adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2019 is expected to be in the range of $1.5 million to $2.0 million.
“Fiscal year 2019 was a challenging year for our company due to the uncontrollable aspects of our business,” Edwards acknowledged. “Untimely and persistent rains dramatically affected lemons, higher temperatures affected orange pricing throughout the year and, as expected, our avocado harvest was minimal due to the prior year’s heatwave. Despite these challenges, our company still generated record revenue and expanded our market share. We also began realizing equity earnings from our real estate development, Harvest at Limoneira, and successfully closed a very important acquisition in Argentina, expanding our One World of Citrus.”
Additional avenues of growth include an additional 1,200 acres of non-bearing lemons that are estimated to bear fruit over the next four years, which the company said will enable it to achieve strong organic growth for many years to come.
300 of the 1,200 acres are expected to become full bearing in fiscal year 2021.
Limoneira also intends to plant an additional 250 acres of lemons in the next two years that it said it believes will further build its long-term pipeline of productive acreage, estimating it will increase annual lemon supply from its 2020 level by approximately 30 percent, or about 900K to 1.3M additional fresh cartons, as the non-bearing and planned acreage becomes productive. All this, the company pointed out, is based purely on its growth trajectory and doesn’t include “potential acquisition opportunities for the company in its highly fragmented industry.”
Click here to read the full fiscal report.
