Maui Land profits $6.5M in second quarter due to property sale

Maui Land & Pineapple Co. earned a $6.5 million profit in the second quarter on the value of land improvements tied to some real estate the company sold to a developer nearly a decade ago.

The Kapalua-based firm, which announced its earnings Wednesday, said its profit was derived from $6.7 million in utility and other property improvements conveyed to Maui Land by a developer that bought 125 acres from Maui Land in 2009.

Though the benefit was not in cash, the gain for accounting purposes was recorded as revenue and represented the bulk of Maui Land revenue in the second quarter that totaled $9.3 million.

A year ago in the second quarter, Maui Land had a $13.4 million profit on revenue of $18 million that included proceeds from selling a 304-acre planned residential development site called Pulelehua for $15 million.

Maui Land at one time had been a major real estate developer and pineapple producer in West Maui, but quit growing pineapple and has been selling assets in recent years to pay off huge debts left over from soured resort development and farm operations around a decade ago.

As of April, the company had whittled its debt down to $1.2 million from $137 million in 2008.

The real estate deal linked to Maui Land’s second-quarter profit involved 125 acres of a long-planned 800-acre expansion of Kapalua Resort that Maui Land calls Kapalua Mauka. As part of the sale, the buyer was required to deliver certain land improvements to Maui Land for Kapalua Mauka when the buyer developed the smaller site where it created a gated community called Mahana Estates. The balance of Kapalua Mauka is still envisioned for 639 homes and commercial development including up to 27 holes of golf.

Shares of Maui Land stock, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange, closed at $16.40 Wednesday before the earnings announcement. Shares had been on an upward tear from February to July, and peaked at $27.35 on July 12 after rising from $7.35 in early February.