AIM listed tea and avocado grower Camellia has returned to paying dividends after a restructuring and a “an improvement in market conditions” for its major crops.
The Kent headquartered company owns and manages almost 50,000 hectares of land across three continents with a focus on tea, avocado, macadamia and arable production .
Revenue from continuing operations increased last year by 3% to £262.2 million from £254.2 million, while the trading loss was halved to £5.5 million from £10.3 million.
There will be a dividend of 260p compared with nil in 2023.
Chief executive Byron Coombs said: “The principal objectives for 2024 were to strengthen the balance sheet, reduce portfolio risk, update the company’s governance and management processes, and initiate a review of the business strategy.
“We are very pleased to report good progress on all four of these goals. In addition, we have successfully exited our holdings in BF&M, United Finance and United Insurance and disposed of several non-core assets.
“In doing so we reduced the Group’s risk profile and significantly improved financial liquidity, enabling the Board to feel comfortable to recommend restarting the dividend with confidence that this is sustainable.
“Our accomplishments in 2024 provide the company with a cleaner and more robust platform from which it can more ably address its challenges and deliver better results for its shareholders and other stakeholders.”
While tea is the company’s biggest crop it has also been expanding in fruits and nuts - mainly avocados and macadamia -, and are investing heavilyin blueberries.
Last year Camellia sold 15.4 million kg of avocados on world markets , up from 7.1million kg in 2016. It also sold 1,836 tonnes of macadamia kernel , up from 791 tonnes in 2016.
