ACHL Asian Citrus

TIDMACHL

RNS Number : 0666W

Asian Citrus Holdings Ltd

22 January 2013

22 January 2013

Asian Citrus Holdings Limited

("Asian Citrus" or "the Company")

Trading Update

The Company announces that based on the preliminary assessment of the unaudited management accounts of the Group for the six months ended 31 December 2012, turnover and profit attributable to shareholders is unlikely to exceed the comparative figure for the six months ended 31 December 2011. Core net profit is expected to record a decrease for the six months ended 31 December 2012 as compared to that recorded for the corresponding period in 2011.

Key factors affecting the financial performance of the Company for the six months ended 31 December2012 include, but are not limited to:

(i) as previously announced on 15 November 2012 and more recently in the Winter orange crop update of 15 January 2013, there was a 26.9% decrease of winter orange production from the Group's Hepu Plantation for the six monthsended 31 December 2012;

(ii) a higher volume of fertilisers and pesticides consumed as a result of the unstable weather and persistent heavy rainfall in 2012, as stated in the Company's announcement dated 15 January 2013;

   (iii)       higher labour costs incurred as a result of the general wage inflation in the PRC and 

(iv) lower average selling price of pineapple juice concentrates, the Group's main juice product, for the six months ended 31 December 2012 compared to the corresponding period in 2011 as a result of the destocking by Thai and Philippine producers as stated in the Company's annual report published on 21 September 2012. The price of pineapple juice concentrates started to decrease in January 2012, reached a low in August 2012 and has since improved.

It remains too early in the financial year to judge the materiality of the above factors to the Group's likely full year performance, which in the second half will reflect the price achieved for the Group's summer orange crop, the selling price of pineapple juice concentrates and the impact of weather on the volume of fertilisers and pesticides used by the Group.

The assessment of the net gain on the change in fair value of biological assets for the six months ended 31 December 2012 is still under review. The net gain on change in fair value of biological assets does not have any effect on cash flow.

The information contained in this announcement is based only on the preliminary assessment of the unaudited management accounts of the Group for the six months ended 31 December 2012 and the information currently available to the Board. The review now being conducted by the auditors of the Company on the management accounts has not yet been completed and the management accounts may still be subject to adjustments.

The interim results of the Group for the six months ended 31 December 2012 are expected to be released in February 2013.

For further enquiries please contact

 
 Asian Citrus 
  Eric Sung, Finance Director                  +852 2559 0323 
 Seymour Pierce Limited (NOMAD and 
  Joint Broker) 
  Rick Thompson/Tom Sheldon                    +44 (0) 20 7107 8000 
 Richard Redmayne, Jacqui Briscoe 
  (Broking) 
 
   Liberum Capital Limited (Joint Broker) 
   Clayton Bush, Richard Bootle                +44 (0) 20 3100 2222 
 
 Weber Shandwick Financial 
  Nick Oborne, Stephanie Badjonat, 
  John Moriarty                                +44 (0) 20 7067 0700 
 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

TSTNKBDNABKKNDB

Asian Citrus (LSE:ACHL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jun 2024 to Jul 2024

Asian Citrus (LSE:ACHL)
Historical Stock Chart
From Jul 2023 to Jul 2024