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(Alliance News) - Dekel Agri-Vision PLC on Tuesday said that it plans to start full commercial production of the Cashew Operation this year, after acquiring the remaining interest in the Ivory Coast project.
Dekel Agri-Vision is a West African agriculture company, with a current portfolio of projects at various stages of the development curve. These include a fully operational palm oil project in Ayenouan, a large scale cashew processing project in Tiebissou, and a 24,000 hectare brownfield development site in Guitry, which is being prepared for development.
Dekel has increased its interest in the cashew project to 100%, following the acquisition of a 29% beneficial interest in Pearlside Holdings Ltd for GBP619,000.
Pearlside is the wholly-owned parent of Capro CI SA, the entity which owns the cashew operation. The consideration is to be settled via the issue of 20.0 million new shares, which represent 3.6% of Dekel's enlarged share capital.
In 2021, the raw cashew nut business had losses of GBP346,000. The attributable loss for the additional 29% interest acquired is GBP101,000.
Looking ahead, Dekel said the cashew operation was currently transitioning to full scale commercial production. The facility is due to start at an initial processing capacity of 10,000 tonnes per annum, with potential for further capacity to be added via the increasing of labour shifts.
The company expects the operation to be cash flow generative at the initial processing capacity.
"With the cashew processing operations at Tiebissou currently transitioning to full scale commercial production, we believe this is the right time to increase our interest which we believe will scale up and diversify our revenues and transform our financial profile. We view the pricing of this acquisition as value accretive for Dekel shareholders," said Executive Director Lincoln Moore.
"Our portfolio also includes the established Palm Oil operations at Ayenouan, which are well placed to benefit from the high prices in global crude palm oil during the upcoming current peak harvest season in Ivory Coast. We believe that we have a clear line of sight towards building a multi-project, multi-commodity agriculture company, which has the potential to generate significant returns for investors and significant benefits for the local smallholders with whom we work closely with. "
Dekel Agri-Vision shares were trading 3.2% higher at 3.20 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Holly Beveridge; Alliance News reporter
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