Sharechat Logo

Seeka to buy Aongatete Coolstores

Wednesday 13th March 2019

Text too small?

Kiwifruit grower and marketer Seeka will purchase Aongatete Coolstores for a combined business value of $25 million as part of its growth strategy.

Aongatete is an integrated kiwifruit orcharding and post-harvest company operating across the Bay of Plenty, a location within Seeka's traditional catchment. The purchase is expected to add 4 million to 4.5 million trays of kiwifruit annually and deliver sustainable earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization of between $3.5 million and $4.5 million, Seeka said.

Yesterday, Seeka said it expects its full-year ebitda to be in a range of $36.5 million to $37.5 million, up from previous guidance of $27.5 million to $28.5 million, partly due to changes in the accounting treatment of leases it holds.

It also said that, as of Dec. 31, it had made a $600,000 gain on $7 million of sales from its Northland orchard portfolio. Additional sales agreed or settled since then will represent a gain of $4.2 million if all $25.9 million worth are achieved, Seeka said.

The revised guidance excludes the impact of the  Aongatete purchase, which is expected to settle on March 18.

In November, Seeka announced a three-stage plan to repay debt and strengthen its balance sheet. It raised $47.9 million in a rights issue and now has 29.32 million shares on issue.

Today it said it expects its net bank debt-to-ebitda ratio to be within its policy range of 1.5 to 2.5 times by the end of the year. That takes into account anticipated orchard sales, gains on those sales, operational performance, and capital expenditure. 

Seeka shares last traded at $4.96 and have lifted 15 percent so far this year.

(BusinessDesk)



  General Finance Advertising    

Comments from our readers

No comments yet

Add your comment:
Your name:
Your email:
Not displayed to the public
Comment:
Comments to Sharechat go through an approval process. Comments which are defamatory, abusive or in some way deemed inappropriate will not be approved. It is allowable to use some form of non-de-plume for your name, however we recommend real email addresses are used. Comments from free email addresses such as Gmail, Yahoo, Hotmail, etc may not be approved.

Related News:

SML - Synlait Milk Limited - Trading Halt of Securities
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
AIA - Auckland Airport announces board chair changes
CEN - Tauhara commissioning progress update
FPH initiates voluntary limited recall
March 28th Morning Report
KFL Celebrates 20 Years of Excellence in Investment Mgmt.
SVR - Savor FY24 Earnings Guidance & Change in Banking Partner
NZK - NZ King Salmon Investments Limited FY24 Results
March 27th Morning Report