- Company Expects to Achieve Record Revenue and Operating Income in
Fiscal Year 2017 -
- Recent December 2017 Wildfires
Caused Minimal Damage to Company Properties -
-
Company Expects to Generate Fiscal Year 2018 Earnings Per Diluted Share
to be in the Range $0.55 to $0.65 -
SANTA PAULA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2017--
Limoneira Company (the “Company” or “Limoneira”) (NASDAQ: LMNR), a
leading global agribusiness with prime agricultural land and operations,
real estate and water rights in California, Arizona and Chile today
announced business and guidance update for its fiscal year ending
October 31, 2017 and provided initial earnings per diluted share
guidance for fiscal year ending October 31, 2018.
Fiscal Year 2017 Business Update and Initial Fiscal Year 2018 Guidance
Excessive heat in the Arizona desert slowed fruit sizing during the
Company’s fourth quarter of fiscal year 2017 which delayed timing of the
lemon harvest for its desert crop near Yuma, Arizona until the first
quarter of fiscal year 2018. In addition, fresh lemon prices were lower
in October 2017 than previously anticipated, however lemon prices for
fiscal year 2017 are expected to be similar to previous estimates and
prices have rebounded. Based on this information, the Company is
updating its fiscal year 2017 guidance and providing initial fiscal year
2018 earnings per diluted share guidance.
For fiscal year 2017, the Company expects revenue of approximately $120
million, earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $0.40 to $0.44
per share, operating income to be in the range of $11.5 million to $12.0
million and EBITDA to be in the range of $18.6 million to $19.1 million.
For fiscal year 2018, the Company expects earnings per diluted share to
be in the range of $0.55 to $0.65. In addition, the residential
development, Harvest at Limoneira, broke ground on November 8,
2017, and the Company anticipates the lot sales process will begin in
the spring of 2018, with the first closings estimated to begin in the
first quarter of fiscal year 2019. The Company currently estimates
approximately 632 units will be included in Phase 1 of the project.
December 2017 Southern California Wildfires
The Company is assessing potential property and crop damage caused by
the December 2017Southern California wildfires and related high winds.
Initial indications are that the Company’s orchards did not suffer
significant damage. Fourteen of the Company’s 265 farm-worker housing
units were destroyed by the fire and a brief power outage occurred at
the Company’s packinghouse. The Company currently does not expect the
fire and wind damage to have a material impact on its results of
operations, however, the farm-worker housing units are estimated to cost
approximately $60,000 per unit to replace.
Alex Teague, Chief Operating Officer commented, “We are very thankful
for the hundreds of firefighters that braved the fires to protect our
properties as well as the properties of our friends and neighbors. We
will know in the coming months if the fires affected our avocado or
citrus crops for fiscal 2018. In addition, we do not believe the
wildfires caused any long-term damage to our orchards.”
Management Comments
Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "We
believe we will achieve record revenue and operating profit in fiscal
2017 despite the delayed timing of our desert lemon harvest. Our recent
acquisitions, our expanded lemon planting efforts, our affiliated grower
recruiting efforts, our new lemon packinghouse, our sales/marketing
alliance with Suntreat for our oranges and specialty citrus and our
focus on improving operating efficiencies have us very well positioned
for continued growth in our operating results in fiscal year 2018.”
Mr. Edwards continued, "As we enter fiscal 2018, we are very excited
about the overall strength of our agriculture business as well as our
real estate venture, Harvest at Limoneira. This project involved
years of thoughtful planning with our joint venture partner, the Lewis
Group, and the commitment of city, county and state-wide officials. As
we embark on this tremendous opportunity, we believe it will deliver
strong cash flow and long-term value for our shareholders and the county
of Ventura, CA.”
The Company will report its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 results
on January 8, 2018.
About Limoneira Company
Limoneira Company, a 125-year-old international agribusiness
headquartered in Santa Paula, California, has grown to become one of the
premier integrated agribusinesses in the world. Limoneira (pronounced lē
mon΄âra) is a dedicated sustainability company with 11,200 acres of rich
agricultural lands, real estate properties, and water rights
in California, Arizona and Chile. The Company is a leading producer of
lemons, avocados, oranges, specialty citrus and other crops that are
enjoyed throughout the world. For more about Limoneira Company, visit www.limoneira.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including
earnings guidance for fiscal year 2017 and 2018, within the meaning of
Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E
of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.These
forward-looking statements are based on Limoneira's current expectations
about future events and can be identified by terms such as "expect,"
"may," "anticipate," "intend," "should be," "will be," "is likely to,"
"strive to," and similar expressions referring to future periods.
Limoneira believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking
statements are reasonable but cannot guarantee future results, level of
activity, performance or achievements.Actual results may differ
materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking
statements.Therefore, Limoneira cautions you against relying on
any of these forward-looking statements. Factors which may cause future
outcomes to differ materially from those foreseen in forward-looking
statements include, but are not limited to:changes in laws,
regulations, rules, quotas, tariffs and import laws; weather conditions
that affect production, transportation, storage, import and export of
fresh product; increased pressure from crop disease, insects and other
pests; disruption of water supplies or changes in water allocations;
pricing and supply of raw materials and products; market responses to
industry volume pressures; pricing and supply of energy; changes in
interest and currency exchange rates; availability of financing for land
development activities; political changes and economic crises;
international conflict; acts of terrorism; labor disruptions, strikes or
work stoppages; loss of important intellectual property rights;
inability to pay debt obligations; inability to engage in certain
transactions due to restrictive covenants in debt instruments;
government restrictions on land use; and market and pricing risks due to
concentrated ownership of stock.Other risks and uncertainties
include those that are described in Limoneira'sSEC filings which are
available on the SEC's website at http://www.sec.gov.Limoneira undertakes no obligation to subsequently update or revise
the forward-looking statements made in this press release, except as
required by law.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Due to significant depreciable assets associated with the nature of our
operations and interest costs associated with our capital structure,
management believes that earnings before interest, income taxes,
depreciation and amortization (“EBITDA”) and adjusted EBITDA, which
excludes impairments on real estate development assets when applicable,
is an important measure to evaluate our Company’s results of operations
between periods on a more comparable basis. Such measures are widely
used by analysts, investors and lenders as well as by management in
assessing our Company’s financial performance and business trends
relating to our results of operations and financial condition. These
measurements are not prepared in accordance with U.S. generally accepted
accounting principles (“GAAP”) and should not be construed as an
alternative to reported results determined in accordance with GAAP. The
non-GAAP information provided is unique to our Company and may not be
consistent with methodologies used by other companies. With respect to
our expectations under " Fiscal Year 2017 Business Update and Initial
Fiscal Year 2018 Guidance " above, the Company has not provided a
reconciliation of forward-looking non-GAAP measures, primarily due to
variability and difficulty in making accurate forecasts and projections,
as not all the information necessary for a quantitative reconciliation
is available to the Company without unreasonable efforts.
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20171212006192/en/
Source: Limoneira Company
ICR
John Mills
Partner
646-277-1254
