Almond grower, Select Harvest, has acquired Jubilee Almond Orchard in South Australia for AUD $26.5 million.

Jubilee Almond Orchard operates across 1, 147 acres and has both mature and developing almond trees. Nearly 800 acres have bearing trees, whilst 355 acres are non-baring.

At full capacity the orchard can produce in excess of 1, 400 million tonnes of almonds.

Jubilee also has a shareholding in almond processor Laragon and 1, 335ML of high security water entitlements.

The orchard is located in the Riverland areas of South Australia within the Walkerie region. Its almond varieties include Fritz, Peerless, Price, Ne Plus Ultra, Carmel and Nonpareil.

Select Harvest profit drop

Releasing its 2017 half yearly financial results at the same time as the acquisition announcement, Select Harvest achieved a net profit of AUD $11.6 million.

For the first half of its 2016 financial year Select Harvest profited AUD $23.9 million.

Despite the drop in profit, Select Harvest said the results were in line with its expectations and occurred due to lower almond prices this year.

The company said within the past eighteen months’ almond prices have been “volatile”, influenced by a range of factors including USD almond prices, crop quality, Californian almond production and the AUD/USD exchange rate.

Managing Director of Select Harvests’, Paul Thompson, said the company is encouraged by the fact that over the last 15 years each low point in the almond price cycle creates a new higher floor price.

“This is consistent with our view that the fundamentals of limited production resources and growing demand will support strong prices in the future,” Thompson said.

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