Hawaii’s largest macadamia nut producer, Royal Hawaiian Orchards LP, reduced its first-quarter loss by redirecting some nut sales as it continued an effort to become a major player in packaged food manufacturing and retailing.

The Hilo-based company said it lost $383,000 in the January-March period compared with a $629,000 loss in the same quarter a year earlier.

Royal Hawaiian, which filed its quarterly financial report with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday, said the improvement was primarily due to having a smaller loss in its division producing a branded line of packaged foods using mac nuts.

The company began making packaged snacks in 2012 with a goal of earning a bigger return on its crop, which it historically sold raw in bulk primarily to snack maker Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut Corp.

But the cost to develop and sell packaged foods, which now includes milk and butter made from macadamia nuts, has been challenging.

To improve cash flow in the first quarter, Royal Hawaiian said it sold some processed nuts in bulk instead of holding them as inventory for packaged food production. The company did not break down processed nut and packaged food sales. Revenue from both categories rose to $5.9 million in the recent quarter from $3.9 million a year earlier.

The company noted that it cut its selling expenses almost in half, to $590,000 in the recent quarter from $1.1 million a year earlier, by spending less on marketing and having lower storage, handling and freight costs as the result of selling more processed nuts.

Royal Hawaiian also reported more revenue from orchard operations that include selling unprocessed nuts. Sales in this segment rose to $2.2 million in the recent quarter from $1.9 million a year earlier.

Total revenue rose 41 percent to $8.1 million from $5.8 million in the year-over-year period.

In other significant events during the first quarter, Royal Hawaiian raised about $20 million by selling shares in the company and settled a lawsuit with the owner of orchard lands that the company farmed.

The $20 million will give the company cash to continue operations and to repay $10.5 million in debt that matures in July.

The lawsuit was filed by a trust of Edmund C. Olson in 2015 that alleged Royal Hawaiian breached terms of two orchard leases. The settlement agreement calls for Royal Hawaiian gaining ownership of 653 acres of land that includes 382 acres of trees and processing facilities, and relinquishing 515 acres of leased land and 30 acres of owned land that includes 372 acres of trees.

Overall, Royal Hawaiian farms about 5,400 acres of macadamia trees on Hawaii island.

Partnership shares in Royal Hawaiian, which typically trade lightly on an over-the-counter stock exchange and are mainly held by Denver investor and former Quark Software Inc. CEO Farhad “Fred” Ebrahimi, closed at $1.99 Monday after the earnings report was filed. That was up from $1.80 on Friday, which matched a 52-week low set May 4. The 52-week high was $3.16 on Aug. 5.