Camellia PLC (LON:CAM), the agriculture, engineering and investment group, expects its annual profit to beat market forecasts after bumper harvests of its core crops, sending its shares up.
The company said good weather conditions and previous investment had led to the volume of its key crops – tea, macadamia and avocado – reaching “at or near record levels”.
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Camellia said in Bangladesh, the price of tea had seen record highs, while in Kenya and Malawi, average tea prices had been above its earlier expectations, given the volumes in the market.
The harvests for avocados and macadamias are now substantially complete and while the significant fall in the prices of avocados globally had largely negated the increase in volumes, average macadamia prices in the year to date had also been higher, the company said.
“Our remaining crops have performed in line with expectations. As a result, the board believes that the profit before tax of the group for the year is likely to be substantially above market forecasts,” CEO Tom Franks said in a statement.
The agriculture group also said that its previously announced disposal of BMT was now complete and that following a process to attract new investors, the group has disposed of the entirety of its interest in XiMo AG.
Contracts to purchase the land in Tanzania that it announced in the interim results had also been signed, while the group added that it had also signed memoranda of understanding to acquire two additional tea gardens in Assam, India.
Shares in Camellia were 4.9% up at 9,800p in early trade.