Loss more than doubles for Royal Hawaiian Orchards
Hawaii’s largest macadamia nut farm business reported a wider loss in the second quarter Thursday and said it is assessing the impact of Tropical Storm Iselle on its operations.
Royal Hawaiian Orchards LP lost $3 million in the three months ended June 30, compared with a $1.2 million loss in the same quarter last year.
The Hilo-based company is in the relative early stages of transforming itself from a grower and wholesaler of raw nuts to a producer and seller of packaged retail snack products using nuts from its orchards.
Sales from Royal Hawaiian’s snack line in the quarter grew to $2.1 million from $261,000 a year earlier. Revenue from nut sales and contracted orchard operations totaled $332,000 compared with $286,000 in the same period.
Royal Hawaiian did not report any damage assessments from Iselle, but ended the quarter with fewer trees after terminating a lease on a Mauna Kea orchard with 326 acres of trees. The lease was ended as part of a legal settlement with landlord Kaiwiki Orchards LLC, which sued Royal Hawaiian in 2012 alleging that the company failed to exercise "good husbandry" and permitted waste in its agricultural operations.
Royal Hawaiian harvested about 1 million pounds of nuts from the Mauna Kea orchard last year. It still has 4,744 acres of mac nut trees on Hawaii island.
As part of the settlement, Kaiwiki paid Royal Hawaiian $1.5 million for the trees and other assets, though Royal Hawaiian said it realized a noncash loss of $1.8 million after accounting for the value of the Mauna Kea orchard operations.
Shares in the company traded on an over-the-counter exchange closed at $2.67 Thursday before the earnings announcement. Shares previously traded at $2.75 cents Monday. Shares over the last 52 weeks have traded between a low of $2.25 in December and $3.26 in September.
Andrew Gomes / agomes@staradvertiser.com
Cost of litigation takes toll on Cyanotech
Hawaii island microalgae producer Cyanotech Corp. reported "disappointing" financial results Thursday for April-to-June operations affected by hefty litigation expenses.
The company said it had a $413,000 net loss in the three-month period compared with a $30,000 profit a year earlier.
Sales in the recent quarter rose 8 percent to $7.4 million from $6.9 million a year ago. However, Cyanotech said it had $1.5 million in legal costs during the recent quarter related to alleged patent infringement.
Cyanotech said its legal expenses were exceptionally high due to document production, depositions, a hearing and development of economic and medical expert reports.
The litigation has to do with a former Cyanotech product buyer that claims Cyanotech is making, marketing and selling a nutritional supplement called astaxanthin in violation of a patent primarily relating to the product’s use in eye treatments.
Shares of Cyanotech stock closed at $4.56 Thursday, down from $4.77 a day earlier. The company reported its earnings before the start of trading Thursday.
Star-Advertiser staff
ON THE MOVE
Turtle Bay Resort has announced new hires:
>> Brina Fritzsche as its group sales manager. She has 10 years of hospitality and group sales experience, including serving in groups sales at the Modern Honolulu and Sheraton Kona Resorts on Maui as well as worked in sales with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Hawaii.
>> Ginger Oswald as its customer relationship marketing manager. She was previously working in marketing at Hawaiian Telcom where she managed digital marketing strategies, which included online advertising and the company’s website.
King Windward Nissan has hired Darby Collado as its commercial vehicle manager. He was previously a territory and account manager in Hawaii’s business community for more than 25 years.
