Q3 2025 Limoneira Co Earnings Call
Speaker #3: Greetings, and welcome to Limoneira's third quarter 2025 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A brief question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation.
Speaker #3: It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Diedre Thompson, with ICR. Thank you. You may begin.
Speaker #4: Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Limoneira's third quarter fiscal year 2025 conference call. On the call today are Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Mark Palamountain, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.
Speaker #4: By now, everyone should have access to the third quarter fiscal year 2025 earnings release, which went out today at approximately 4:05 PM Eastern Time.
Speaker #4: If you have not had a chance to view the release, it's available on the Investor Relations portion of the company's website at limoneira.com. This call is being webcast, and a replay will be available on Limoneira's website.
Speaker #4: Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions.
Speaker #4: Such statements involve a number of known and unknown risk and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company's control and could cause its future results, performance, or achievements to differ significantly from the results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.
Speaker #4: Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risk details in the company's Form 10Qs and 10Ks, filed with the SEC, and those mentioned in the earnings release.
Speaker #4: Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking or other statements herein whether a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Speaker #4: Please note that during today's call, we will be discussing non-GAAP financial measures, including results on an adjusted basis. We believe these adjusted financial measures can facilitate a more complete analysis and greater understanding of Limoneira's ongoing results of operations, particularly when comparing underlying results from period to period.
Speaker #4: We have provided as much detail as possible on any items that are discussed on an adjusted basis. Also, within the company's earnings release and in today's prepared remarks, we include adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS, which are non-GAAP financial measures.
Speaker #4: A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures is included in the company's press release, which has been posted to its website.
Speaker #4: And with that, it's my pleasure to turn the call over to the company's President and CEO, Mr. Harold Edwards.
Speaker #5: Thank you, Diedre, and good afternoon, everyone. During the third quarter, we made significant strides in unlocking long-term value through our two-part value creation strategy.
Speaker #5: Agriculture production optimization and land and water value creation. As we enter the fourth quarter and turn our attention to fiscal year 2026, we're excited about the profitable growth opportunities ahead.
Speaker #5: In the third quarter, we continued to navigate challenging lemon market conditions with pricing pressures in the first two months. Though we saw improvement in the final month as we captured higher prices for fruit held in storage.
Speaker #5: Our fresh utilization was lower due to the strategic timing, but we remain confident in achieving our volume goals for both lemons and avocados in fiscal year 2025.
Speaker #5: In addition, we expect pricing to improve in fiscal 2026 due to anticipated shortages in several international areas. Our strategic partnership with Suncast for citrus sales and marketing remains on track to drive $5 million in annual cost savings and EBITDA enhancements starting in fiscal year 2026.
Speaker #5: This partnership will unlock access to new, high-quality customers while creating the operational efficiencies we've discussed. We expect lemons to return to profitability with more normalized pricing and fresh utilization levels in fiscal year 2026.
Speaker #5: Our avocado business continues to expand. With pricing and volume on plan during the quarter, we anticipate a significant increase in avocado production as our newly planted acreage begins maturing in fiscal year 2027 and beyond.
Speaker #5: We have 700 acres of non-bearing avocados estimated to become full bearing over the next two to four years enabling strong organic growth. This will be a near 100% increase in avocado-producing acreage.
Speaker #5: Our real estate development continues to exceed expectations. Harvest at Limoneira is selling homes ahead of schedule, and we continue to expect future distributions from our real estate projects to total approximately $155 million over the next five fiscal years.
Speaker #5: Today, I'm also excited to announce our exploration of development options for our Limco Del Mar property. This 221-acre agricultural infill property bordered by developed areas in the city of Ventura presents an opportunity for residential development that directly addresses Ventura County's critical housing shortage.
Speaker #5: As a historically local company, Limoneira is dedicated to helping solve this housing crisis. We believe that a strong community needs homes for everyone, and we're ready to do our part.
Speaker #5: The Limco Del Mar Ranch is ideally suited for efficient, well-planned infill development that may stimulate economic growth, create jobs, and contribute to vibrant, livable communities.
Speaker #5: We're committed to conducting a comprehensive community-based planning process, including complete CEQA, which is the California Environmental Quality Act review, City of Ventura City Council review, a SOAR, Save Open Space and Agricultural Resources vote, and the LAFCO, Local Agency Formation Commission review process for annexation to the City of Ventura.
Speaker #5: Our goal is to create a pathway to design, permit, and develop new homes that will meet the needs of Ventura County's residents. We continue to advance our water monetization efforts.
Speaker #5: In January 2025, we sold water pumping rights to the Santa Paula Basin for $30,000 per acre-foot. Across three transactions, we generated $1.7 million in proceeds and recorded $1.5 million in gains.
Speaker #5: In summary, we're executing a comprehensive strategy that positions us for long-term growth. Our citrus operational enhancements through the Suncast partnership, expanding avocado production, accelerating real estate development, adding new housing development opportunities, and ongoing water value creation all contribute to building sustainable long-term shareholder value.
Speaker #5: And with that, I'll now turn the call over to Mark to discuss our third quarter results. Thank you, Harold, and good afternoon, everyone. Before I begin, I would remind you it is best to view our business on an annual, not quarterly basis, due to the seasonal nature of our business.
Speaker #5: Historically, our first and fourth quarters are the seasonally softer quarters, while our second and third quarters are stronger. For the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, total net revenue was $47.5 million, compared to total net revenue of $63.3 million in the third quarter of the previous fiscal year.
Speaker #5: Agribusiness revenue was $45.9 million, compared to $61.8 million in the third quarter last year. Other operations revenue was $1.5 million for the third quarter of fiscal years 2025 and 2024.
Speaker #5: The decline in agribusiness revenue stems primarily from continued pricing pressure in the lemon market during the first two months of the quarter. Though we saw improvement in July, additionally, our fresh utilization was lower as we held lemons longer in storage to capture higher prices during the final month of the quarter.
Speaker #5: Looking beyond this year, the citrus sales and marketing plan we announced with Suncast is anticipated to enhance our resilience to market volatility by creating a more efficient cost structure, leading to an expected $5 million in EBITDA improvement during fiscal year 2026.
Speaker #5: Agribusiness revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 includes $23.8 million in fresh packed lemon sales, compared to $25.8 million during the same period of fiscal year 2024.
Cartons sold at an average price of $1,843 per carton during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.
Lemon sales were $3.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, compared to $9.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.
The company recognized $8.5 million of avocado revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 compared to 13.9% of fiscal year 2024.
Approximately 5.7 million pounds of avocados were sold in aggregate during the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 at a $1.50 average price per pound, compared to approximately 8.9 million pounds sold at a $1.57 average price per pound during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.
The California avocado crop typically experiences alternating years of high and low production due to plant physiology, and this was the primary reason for lower volume this year compared to last year.
Both avocado pricing and volume. We're on plan, and we achieved our volume goals for fiscal year 2025.
Of Orange revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 compared to $1.2 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.
Approximately 94,000 cartons of oranges were sold during the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 at an $18 average price per carton, compared to approximately 43,000 cartons sold at a $26.98 average price per carton during the third quarter of fiscal year 2024.
Specialty, citrus, and wine grape revenue were $600,000 for the third quarter of fiscal years 2025 and 2024.
Revenues were $100,000 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025 compared to $3.2 million in the same period of fiscal year 2024. The decline was due to the termination of our farm management agreement effective March 31, 2025.
Last distribution from our 50/50 real estate development joint venture with the Lewis Group of Companies.
The distribution came from the joint ventures' available cash and cash equivalents, which as of July 31, 2023, was 6.4 million.
Now, I'd like to turn the call back to Harold to discuss our fiscal year 2025 outlook and longer-term growth pipeline.
Thanks Mark.
We can continue to expect fresh lemon volumes to be in the range of 4.5 million to 5 million cartons for fiscal year 2025, and avocado volume is approximately 7 million pounds for fiscal year 2025.
Fiscal year 2025 avocado volume is lower than fiscal year 2024, primarily due to the alternate bearing nature of avocado trees.
Looking beyond fiscal year 2025, we have strong visibility on multiple value drivers.
First, we believe we are in a good position to divest additional real estate assets in Fiscal Year 2026.
Second, we expect to receive an additional $155 million from our real estate projects over the next five fiscal years.