The American Limoneira, a large company that has, among other things, fruit cultivation, real estate and water rights in California and Arizona, had an increase in sales of 11 per cent last year. That increase is mostly thanks to the good results in the lemon and avocado trade.
In the fourth quarter, Limoneira realised an increase in sales of 37 per cent. With that, sales amounted to 19.5 million dollar, a year before, that had only been 14.2 million dollar. That increase in sales is thanks to better lemon sales. The part of the company that consists of fruit cultivation mainly produces lemons. Those sales amounted to 16.4 million dollar in the fourth quarter. A year earlier, sales amounted to 11.6 million dollar. The increase is thanks to higher prices for the lemons. Volume also increased, and amounted to 521,000 boxes (2015: 338,000 boxes). On average, the lemons sold at 25.91 dollar per box (2015: 25 dollar per box).
In addition to lemons, Limoneira is active in the cultivation of avocados and oranges. The sales in avocados are minimal, oranges brought in 0.6 million dollar. Other products in the assortment combined realised a turnover of 1.2 million dollar. The operational result ended 0.9 million dollar in the red. In 2015, that was 4.9 million dollar in the fourth quarter.
Over the entire year, turnover increased by 11 per cent to 111.8 million dollar, compared to 100.3 million dollar in 2015. The operational income amounted to 9.2 million dollar (2015: 4.6 million dollar). That increase is due to the better results in the agricultural division. Lemons and avocados in particular contributed to a better result.