Ariston to focus on harvesting, says Spears

Ariston to focus on harvesting, says Spears
Published: 17 February 2014
Ariston Holdings Limited will focus on a successful harvesting and sale of the substantially increased major produces, CE Paul Spear told the AGM on Friday.

"We're just at the beginning of a very busy period. We've got significant potato crops in the ground...we've just started harvesting our apples, our macadamias and we're 50% through with the tea crop.

"The season ahead is looking to be a very productive one with much increased activity," said Spears.

He noted that the group will also focus on continual improvement on operating cost per unit and further integration of FAVCO and farms.

Giving the production estimates for FY14, Spear indicated that tea volumes are expected to go up to 3.464tonnes from 2.564tonnes recorded last year which is a 251% change from 2012.

Macadamia volumes are also expected to increase to 1.490t in 2014 from 1.174t, a 77% change from 2012.

Spear added that stone and pome volumes are likely to go down to 190t and 1.158t each from 192t and 1.270t respectively.

Potato volumes might increase to 10.075t from 2.154t. Meanwhile, he noted that poultry volumes are expected to go up to 1.155mln from 1.383mln birds.

Looking at the performance at Southdown Estates, Spear pointed out that there has been significant investment in upgrading irrigation, factories and harvesting capability.

"The results of that investment are beginning to show. So our tea volume last year was more than double the previous year and now we're 55% ahead. Just to put things into perspective, at the end of this month we've harvested 50-55% of this year's crop and I think we're going to be ahead of our target," he said.

Under macadamia, he indicated that demand from China remains firm and the group has started harvesting this year's crop where they are expecting a 27% yield increase to 1 500t as "investment in irrigation is yielding good results."

Turning to Claremont Estate, Spear said fruits have a potential to record a 300% yield increase over the next 3 years pointing out the increase in pome fruit yields per hectare.

"We've spent a lot of time and effort in the last couple of years rehabilitating the orchards so we now have double the area of apples... The plants that we have in the ground now at Claremont, the apples, will produce three times the current yield over the next few years," he added.

Spear told the meeting that potato yields at Claremont and Kent are set to increase to 3 900t and 4 200t each from 1 200t and 700t respectively.

Under the summer crops, he noted that there is 400ha under crop and the group is expecting a good season and above budget performance.

FAVCO's business restructuring is 90% complete with the bulk of the operation focusing on marketing of the produce from the farms. He noted that the first quarter was profitable for the business.
 
Moving on to the operating environment, Spear noted that there was a "slowdown in consumers spending" and also the firm was facing "electricity challenges" which includes high costs and erratic supplies.

He said other being challenges faced by the group include liquidity constraints on the market and high interest rates.

- zfn
Tags: Ariston,

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