Posted on: Saturday, April 30, 2005

Maui Land & Pineapple suffers first-quarter slide

Advertiser Staff

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. reported a drop in first-quarter profit primarily because of higher operating losses in its pineapple business and lower profits from real estate development.

First quarter 2005

Revenue: $38.1 million, down 6 percent from a year ago

Net income: $1.3 million, down 13 percent from a year ago

Earnings per share: 17 cents, up from 21 cents a year ago

Pineapple results: $2.1 million loss, up from $1.8 million loss

Resort results: $293,000 profit, up from $100,000 profit

Real estate results: $3.9 million profit, down from $4.3 million profit

Reasons

• Average pineapple sale prices were up, but losses largely reflected the company's high-cost structure and costs associated with its transition from predominantly selling canned pineapple to selling higher-quality fresh pineapple.

• The owner of Kapalua Resort benefited from higher room rates and occupancies.

• Real estate division revenues included $7.3 million in residential lot sales at Honolua Ridge and the sale of a $4.2 million lot at Kapalua Resort.

What they are saying

"All three business segments are performing to our expectations. We continue to work on right sizing our pineapple operations to focus on premium fresh markets."

• Maui Land & Pine also said it will continue to invest aggressively in large-scale real-estate projects.