LONDON (Alliance News) - Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd on Friday reported a significantly wider pretax loss in the first half of its financial year, as it struggles to recover from the typhoons and orange disease which hit its plantations last year.
The orange plantation operator and owner said its pretax loss in the six months ended December 31 multiplied to a staggering CNY1.62 billion, about GBP177 million, from CNY235.3 million in the same period the year before, as revenue decreased to CNY387.2 million from GBP584.4 million.
Investors clearly expected worse. Shares in Asian Citrus were trading up 21% at 4.71 pence on Friday morning.
Asian Citrus has suffered incredibly tough times of late, beginning in late 2014 when it was hit by two typhoons in Southern China, causing significant damage to its orange plantations. It then took a further blow in 2015 when it revealed that huanglongbing disease, or citrus greening disease, had struck its Xinfeng plantation, devastating the crop and causing the company to to close down the plantation at the end of the year.
On Friday, Asian Citrus revealed that total orange production in the first half of the current financial year decreased by 86% to 15,565 tonnes from 110,993 tonnes in the first half of the prior year, as it struggles to recover from the recent destruction.
Production yield at the Hepu plantation decreased by 35% to 4,671 tonnes from 7,146 tonnes, while production yield at the Xingfeng plantation dropped by 90% to 10,894 tonnes from 103,847 tonnes.
As a result of its loss, Asian Citrus said it will not pay an interim dividend for the period.
"While it is still early in the financial year to fully judge the full impact of the challenges highlighted above on the group's likely full year performance, we anticipate that conditions in the second half will continue to be demanding," Chairman Ng Ong Nee said in a statement.
"With that in view, we have promptly adjusted our business strategies and will actively consolidate our business. We shall focus on improving efficiency and utilisation of all our assets as well as the implementation of the cost control programme to reduce the operating costs of the group. All these measures will enable the group to reallocate its resources to strengthen its core operations and improve its operational efficiency and profitability," he added.
By Karolina Kaminska; karolinakaminska@alliancenews.com @KarolinaAllNews
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