Hurricane Irma resulted in a considerably smaller harvest for American company Alico. The company is active in various sectors, including the production of citrus. The hurricane also caused direct damages to crops in this sector. Bright spot: losses are smaller than estimated.
In the fiscal year ending on 30 September, the company harvested 4.8 million boxes of fruit, corresponding to a decrease of 36.4% compared to the previous fiscal year. A considerable decline was reported particularly in early and mid-varieties, -43.7%. The harvest of Valencia was 28.5% lower. The decline was a direct consequence of hurricane Irma.
Shortly after the hurricane passed over the fields, Alico estimated their losses at 40 to 45%. The fact that the average decline amounts to 36.4% is thanks to the late varieties and Valencias, so that the loss was smaller than expected. The company has already received 9.4 million dollar from the insurance company for the damages caused by the hurricane. The company can also claim financial compensation from the government, although it’s still unclear how high these would be.
Over the complete fiscal year and all activities, the company reports a net income of 13,050,000 dollar. Because of this, the company reports a positive result after an amount of 9.4 million dollar in the red was reported for this post in 2017. The EBITDA also improved from 11 million dollar in 2017 to 35.8 million dollar in 2018.