Posted on: Tuesday, February 19, 2002

Mac nut grower reports good year

Advertiser News Services

The world's largest grower of macadamia nuts said it had record net income of $1 million last year, boosted by a larger macadamia crop and the favorable settlement of litigation against its exclusive customer.

ML Macadamia Orchards LP said revenues rose to $16.9 million for the year. The results compared with a net loss of $398,000, or 5 cents a share, on revenues of $13.8 million the previous year.

Net cash flow was $3.1 million last year compared with $1.8 million the previous year.

The Honolulu-based partnership said gains last year were partially offset by a lower price paid by Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp., its exclusive purchaser of nuts, and legal costs incurred in settling the litigation.

The partnership had sued Mauna Loa over questions of payment for 1.8 million pounds in nut deliveries in 2000.

ML Macadamia said the average price of nuts was 48 cents a pound last year, compared with an average price of 51 cents a pound the previous year. The price the partnership receives for its nuts is based on the current year processing and marketing results of Mauna Loa and on USDA-reported maca-damia nut prices for the two preceding years.

Nut production last year was 23 million pounds, up 9.4 percent from 21 million pounds in 2000, due primarily to improvement in the Ka'u region, which had suffered from drought conditions the past few years and experienced a flood in November 2000.

Earlier this year, Mauna Loa advised the partnership that a portion of the payment for nuts delivered in the fourth quarter of 2001 would be delayed because of lack of available credit and that all unpaid balances would be paid with interest before the end of February.

ML Macadamia said in a statement yesterday that $2.5 million remains outstanding, but management of the partnership believes that Mauna Loa has the ability and intends to pay.

For the fourth quarter, the partnership reported net income of $236,000 on revenues of $6.9 million compared to a net loss of $1.5 million on revenues of $5.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2000.

ML Macadamia owns or leases 4,169 acres of orchards on the Big Island.