Ariston sees 93pc jump in Q3 volume
LISTED agricultural concern, Ariston Holdings Limited, says its macadamia nut sales volume grew by 93 percent to 1 171 tonnes in the third quarter to June 2024.
This increased from 606 tonnes recorded in the same period last year.
As such, buoyant macadamia nut sales and favourable pricing spurred Ariston’s overall earnings, as revenue improved by 0, 5 percent ahead of the same period in 2023.
According to Ariston, this indicates an improved demand in the macadamia segment following the global decline in volumes that occurred during the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the period under review, Ariston also acquired a macadamia scanning machine, which allows the scanning of nut-in-shell macadamia nuts to determine their quality before export.
Improvement in macadamia segment performance comes as the Group purchased and installed a new X-ray machine.
This will enable the agro-concern to determine nut quality and defects, leading to effective pricing of the export macadamia nuts as they are graded better, which guarantees the quality being sold.
It allows for a definitive differentiation of macadamia nuts in the shell into its different kernel sizes thereby enhancing selling price determination.
“Revenue generated in the current year was 0,5 percent ahead of the prior comparative period. This arose from improved macadamia volumes and selling prices when compared with the prior comparative period.
“All other products had lower revenue than the prior year,” said Ariston company secretary Anesu Museta in the trading update for the third quarter to June 2024.
However, in terms of production in the current year, Ariston harvested 1,292 tonnes of macadamia nuts, signifying a two percent decrease from 1 313 tonnes harvested in the prior comparative period.
On the other hand, the current year’s tea production volume at 2 880 tonnes was 28 percent ahead of the prior comparative period’s 2 245 tonnes.
This was a significant improvement as the group exceeded 2 850 tonnes achieved in the 2022 financial year.
However, the average selling price for both export and local tea sales remained consistent with the levels experienced in the previous period.
There was also a notable reduction in poultry volumes as poultry houses were put on hold for a part of the year as the poultry operator installed a new abattoir.
Poultry houses have now been operational since January 2024.
Ariston poultry production operates on an out-grower model, where the production volumes are determined by the poultry operator for whom the chickens are being raised.
Generally, Ariston bemoaned the high cost of operations which continued to be hampered by the increased cost of production emanating from the high cost of electricity, fertilisers and crop chemicals.
However, this was counterbalanced by the positive impact that stemmed from the installation of the solar energy plant at Southdown Estate in July 2023. The group’s product mix in the current period also consists of bananas, seed maize, seed soya beans, commercial maize and soya beans. Ariston says it expects a challenging operating environment following tight liquidity conditions being experienced.
As a result, the group’s focus will be placed on cost-cutting strategies, enhancing product quality and optimising production procedures.
-herald
