Costa’s bottom line gets a boost

COSTA Group Holdings has posted revenue growth of

5.8 per cent, taking full-year revenue at Australia’s largest grower, packer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables to beyond $1 billion.

The growth in revenue was driven by sales from the new Colignan citrus farm, near Mildura, and increased table grape marketing volume.

But, as it previously flagged, the impact of multi-year drought became more pronounced in the second half of 2019.

Costa Group CEO Harry Debney said the company had faced significant challenges relating to drought and weather events in the second half, impacting fruit size and yield in late-season citrus, berry and avocado crops.

“We also had to take action to remove part of our berry crop at Corindi (NSW) due to a lack of rain in order to conserve our perennial blueberry footprint,” Mr Debney said.

“Although our key berry and tomato growing locations at Corindi and Guyra have received heavy rainfall over January and into February, improving our overall and ongoing water security across the business will continue to be a key priority.

“The company is committed to making our operations sustainable so they can both better withstand environmental risk including unforeseen and extreme weather events.”

Costa Group, which is strategically growing its offshore exposure in attractive international markets, including China, reported $90m in revenue from international operations in 2019.

Costa Group Holdings grew out of the company founded by Geelong’s Costa family and former non-executive director Frank Costa retains a significant shareholding. It declared a dividend of 2 cents a share, bringing its final fully franked dividend for 2019 to

5.5 cents. Shares closed last week at $2.95.