Seeka first-half profit drops
Seeka, New Zealand's biggest kiwifruit grower, posted a 6.5 percent decline in first-half profit de…Seeka, New Zealand's biggest kiwifruit grower, posted a 6.5 percent decline in first-half profit despite revenue rising. Reason for this was a further write-down of the value of its banana-sourcing business.
The Te Puke-based company reported profit of $10.4 million in the six months ended on June 30th, from $11 million in the same period a year earlier. Seeka said the bottom line included a $1.5 million write-down of goodwill to its tropical fruit business, Seeka Glassfields.
Revenue rose 8.5 percent to $145.4 million, and earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation lifted 7 percent to $23.5 million.
Glassfields, which imports and ripens tropical fruit and provides a logistics service for retailers, suffered after a major customer sourced a direct supply of bananas in 2018, Seeka said. This pushed the board to reassess the value of the tropical business. Seeka had already written down the business by $2 million in 2017. It now recognises just $440,000 of goodwill for the business.
Source: pro.newsroom.co.nz