Shares of Asian Citrus Holdings Limited (ACHL.L) were losing around 9 percent in the morning trade in London after the Hong Kong-based agricultural company Wednesday said it expects significantly wider core net loss and lower turnover for its fiscal year ended June 30.
In its trading update, the company noted that turnover for the half year was reported as down by approximately 21.9% on the comparable period and the outturn for the full year will reflect a similar performance.
For the year 2014, turnover was approximately RMB1.27 billion.
The core net loss for the full year is expected to be more than double the core net loss of RMB193 million that was reported for the first six months of the year.
According to the firm, the deterioration in the second half performance reflected the significant impact of the Huanglongbing disease infection at the company's Xinfeng Plantation, and the damage sustained from Typhoon Rammasun and Typhoon Seagull which affected both production yield and selling price of the orange harvests. The average selling price of the company's winter and summer oranges crop for fiscal 2015 is approximately 15.2% lower as compared to last year.
The processed fruit business, which involves the manufacture and sale of fruit juice concentrates, purees and frozen fruit and vegetables, saw comparable sales tonnage decrease marginally compared to the prior year. The business was loss making, compared to last year's net profit of approximately RMB10 million, mainly due to increased cost of raw materials owing to limited supplies, increased material scrap and maintenance costs caused by low productivity of the production equipment, as well as increased labour costs, the company said.
The company is scheduled to release its annual results on September 25.
In London, Asian Citrus shares were trading at 8.75 pence, down 9.09 percent.
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