La Nina affects Select Harvest

Almond grower Select Harvests has blamed La Nina for producing poor crops in 2022 and 2023, which it said drove a write-off of goodwill and led to a collapse into almost $100m in losses for the first half and the cancellation of its interim dividend.

Select Harvests, a fully integrated almond business consisting of orchards, both company owned and leased, processing facilities and valueadd processing, on Monday posted an interim net loss of $96.229m, a swing from a profit of $2.01m for the previous corresponding period.

The swing to a large loss was anticipated by the market.

Revenue for the period fell 11.4 per cent to $60.864m. The interim dividend was cancelled.

Shares in Select Harvests initially fell on the results, dropping to a low of $4.19, before rallying in the afternoon.

Managing director David Surveyor said climatic conditions affected the 2023 crop, with cold and wet weather resulting in unusual growing patterns and lower yields.

Due to the 2023 crop volume forecast decreasing to 17,500m tonnes, from 29,000m tonnes in 2023, the net realisable value of the crop is less than the total costs to sell the crop. As a result, the full loss of the 2023 crop has been reflected in the first half accounts.

Furthermore, Select Harvests said a significant portion of its remaining inventory was downgraded due to quality issues. This remaining inventory has either been sold at reduced prices or been allocated to be used through the company’s value-adding facility. This downgrade has had a $24m before tax impact on the first-half results.

The second half will show a small loss with the recognition of six months of corporate and finance costs partially offset by non-crop related income, the company said.