<p></p><p>SELECT Harvests, Australia’s only listed nut producer, has announced a record profit of $29 million, the purchase of three new almond orchards and an underwritten $47m bookbuild and share purchase plan to fund further growth. The ambitious move will lift Select Harvests’ capital value on its current share price to nearly $400 million, catapulting the quiet agricultural achiever into the ranks of Australia’s Top 200 companies by size.</p> <p>The company’s success comes despite an almond harvest that was 17 per cent smaller than last year’s after a poor season, but the company’s bottom line was boosted by a 33 per cent jump in prices from $6.38 a kilogram in 2013 to $8.50 this year, and an upward pre-tax revaluation of its trees to $6m. Announcing its annual results yesterday, managing director Paul Thompson said the purchase of three orchards for $63m along the Murray River near Renmark in South Australia and between Robinvale and Mildura in northwest Victoria was a pivotal move for the company. </p><p>The largest property, the $52m “Amaroo” near Renmark, critically adds 828ha of an already planted and mature almond orchard to Select Harvest’s 4700ha of trees, as well as another 600ha of undeveloped land that can be planted in the next five years. There is also 308ha of citrus trees on Amaroo that the company plans to lease to a third party before replanting with almonds, and 6215 megalitres of valuable water rights. </p><p>The three farms, which together with a fourth orchard bought last December in South Australia cost $79m, will allow the company to double its production area by 2018. “This is the platform for growth that has been missing from our strategy,” Mr Thompson said yesterday. </p><p>“We could have bought a greenfield property but almond trees take eight years to mature; these properties are producing almonds right now, are of the right scale and we can process their almonds at our (Carina West processing) plant with virtually no impact on our costs and capacity.” </p><p>Select Harvests currently grows 10,500 tonnes of almonds a year, about 15 per cent of Australia’s annual almond crop. Almonds are Australia’s fastest growing horticultural crop, with consumer demand outstripping supply and the value of exports jumping from $156m to $370m last year.</p> <p>To fund its acquisition and growth, trading in Select Harvests’ existing 58 million shares was halted on the stock exchange yesterday while a $47m placement of 8.7 million new shares priced at $5.35 each was offered to offshore and domestic institutions, funds and investors. </p><p>A share purchase plan for existing investors to also help fund the almond company’s future growth will open on September 1, after the bookbuild closes, with new SPP shares to commence trading on September 30. </p><p>The company has not yet determined how many or what proportion of the new 8.7 million share dilution on offer will be split between the placement book build and the SPP. </p><p>Current individual shareholders who decide to take up the purchase plan will be restricted to a maximum share purchase of $15,000 each. </p><p>Brokers involved in the bookbuild last night reported a strong uptake of shares from offshore funds in New York, Malaysia and London. </p><p>The company is also investigating using a special-purpose vehicle such as an almond orchard investment fund to optimise its future capital structure. </p><p>The share purchase plan plus the placement, as well as a $50m new acquisition bridging facility, will leave Select Harvest with a net debt of nearly $95m and a gearing ratio of 52 per cent, slightly higher than its current 50 per cent debt to equity ratio. Mr Thompson said the company was determined to reduce its debt ratio to 40 per cent as quickly as possible, but planting new almond orchards cost more than $50,000 a hectare. The company announced an unfranked final dividend of 9 cents a share. </p><p> </p><br><p></p>