Old news before last results.23 Feb 2012 20:11
Since November of last year, shares in orange orchard owner Asian Citrus have virtually halved, for no readily apparent reason. The company has already advised that "the unaudited profit attributable to the shareholders of the company for the year ended 30 June 2011 is expected to increase substantially as compared to the audited profit attributable to the shareholders of the company for the year ended 30 June 2010," so it looks safe to assume that Friday's full-year figures are unlikely to galvanise the share price.
Market consensus is for sales of £134.2m, profit before tax of £71.95m and earnings per share of 7.23p. A full year dividend of 1.14p is anticipated.
The company's bottom line should receive a boost from the result of 92.94% owned subsidiary BPG Food and Beverage, after Asian Citrus took control of the company at the end of November last year.